BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s government said on Tuesday it would close its borders with Syria and Iran and extend the hours of a night curfew in Baghdad under a U.S.- backed security plan to rein in violence in the capital.

The measures ordered by Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki were announced on Iraqiya state television by Lieutenant General Abboud Qanbar, the Iraqi commander who is leading the U.S.-backed security offensive in Baghdad.

Qanbar said the border with Iran and Syria would be closed for 72 hours. He did not say when the closures would take effect.