BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- Iraq will seal its borders next week to prevent Shi'ite pilgrims flooding into the country, the government says, in the latest emergency measure intended to thwart insurgent violence.

The borders will be closed between February 17 and February 22, in a move a government spokesman said on Thursday was designed to coincide with the climax of Ashura, a major Shi'ite religious ceremony.

Millions of Shi'ites travel from across the region to holy sites in Iraq for Ashura, during which many parade and beat themselves in homage to the martyrdom of Imam Hussein in 680 AD.

Suicide bombers attacked pilgrims last year in Baghdad and Kerbala, killing at least 170 people.

"During these dates people will flood to Iraq from neighbouring countries because of Ashura, which will make it difficult to ensure the safety of Iraqis and the visitors," government spokesman Thaer al-Naqib told Reuters.

Naqib said foreign pilgrims should make sure they arrived before the borders closed.

The government, battling a raging insurgency, has adopted special laws that allow it to declare curfews, close borders and detain suspects without normal legal process.

Drivers trying to enter Iraq from Syria, Iran and Jordan say that many border crossings are already shut, meaning foreign Shi'ites will struggle to make the holy journey this year.

The move could contribute to tensions with Iran, from where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims enter Iraq each year.

IRAQI POLICE KILLED

At least 10 Iraqi policemen were killed in a gun battle with insurgents south of Baghdad on Thursday, police sources said.

The battle, near the town of Salman Pak, about 65 km (40 miles) southeast of Baghdad, continued for several hours.

The fighting was so fierce that police reinforcements were unable to reach many of the wounded or recover the dead left lying in the road.

Elsewhere in Iraq, at least eight Iraqi civilians died in militant attacks on Thursday, including three in a car bomb in central Baghdad which a U.S. army spokesman said might have been aimed at an American convoy that passed by shortly before.

He said there were no U.S. casualties but the explosion scattered tangled metal and wreckage across Tahrir Square, a major intersection lined with stalls and near large hotels.

South of the capital, police discovered the bodies of 20 drivers apparently killed by gunmen who ambushed them on the way to the southern city of Kut, a government source said. The attack is believed to have taken place on Wednesday.

Scores of Iraqis have been killed since the country's historic election on January 30, which is expected to hand power to a coalition of Shi'ite Islamist groups.

Iraq's Electoral Commission is making final checks on some 300 ballot boxes over the next two to three days and will release a final vote tally soon.

Partial results show the alliance of mainly Shi'ite Islamist parties, formed with Sistani's blessing, is well in the lead, as expected. A coalition of Kurdish parties is in second place and a bloc led by Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi is third.

The Shi'ite alliance says it will demand the post of Iraqi prime minister in the next government. The Kurds want their candidate, Jalal Talabani, to be president.

Much horse trading is already taking place behind the scenes. Allawi traveled to Arbil in Kurdistan to meet Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdish Democratic Party and Talabani's partner. He later told reporters that a partnership might be on the cards.

"We have been allies for a long time in our struggle against the regime and the issue of a coalition is possible," Allawi said, but stressed the process should be inclusive.

"We agreed that all parties should take part in the political process and not participating doesn't mean that anyone should be isolated," he said.

Many in the Sunni Arab minority, which dominated the country under Saddam Hussein, stayed away from the polls, either because of violence or calls for a boycott from Sunni leaders.

Results are not yet in from several mainly Sunni provinces. But those from Salahadin, a mainly Sunni province that includes Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, indicate few Sunnis voted.

By Alister Bull and Mariam Karouny