BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi government issued a long-anticipated package of security laws today to help crush insurgents, including a provision allowing interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to impose martial law.

"The lives of the Iraqi people are in danger, they are in danger from evil forces, from gangs of terrorists," said Human Rights Minister Bakhityar Amin, who compared the new laws to the U.S. Patriot Act.

As the plan was announced, masked gunmen battled Iraqi forces in central Baghdad, and at least four people were killed. Mortars landed near a residence used by Allawi, and Iraqi police also defused a massive car bomb elsewhere in the capital.

The new laws give Allawi the right to impose curfews, to conduct search operations and detain individuals with weapons, once he receives unanimous approval from the Presidential Council. It also gives him the right to assign governors, including military leaders, to be in charge of specific areas, and they empower him to freeze the assets of suspects and monitor their communications.

Allawi signed the law earlier in the day, officials said.

Justice Minister Malik Dohan al-Hassan said the premier would need to get warrants from an Iraqi court for each step and said martial law could only be declared for 60 days or for the duration of the specific violence, whichever was shorter.

The law was needed to combat the insurgents who are "preventing government employees from attending their jobs, preventing foreign workers from entering the country to help rebuild Iraq and in general trying to derail general elections," he said.

That danger was underscored by the violence today. Insurgents waged a running gunbattle with Iraqi forces in the streets near Martyrs' Square, the Interior Ministry said. At least two people were hurt, witnesses said. U.S. soldiers joined the fighting against the insurgents, a witness said.

Health Ministry official Saad al-Amili said four people were killed and 20 injured in the battle.

Iraqi police also defused a car loaded with 1,650 pounds of explosives today that was parked near the al-Iman mosque in the Karada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad, according to police Col. Adnan Hussein.

Later, another explosion shook the terminal at Baghdad International Airport. There was no immediate word on damage or casualties.

Allawi and his government had delayed the announcement of the law on several occasions, suggesting some disagreement within the council over its provisions.

On Saturday, Allawi's spokesman, Georges Sada, suggested guerrillas who fought the Americans before the sovereignty transfer could be eligible for amnesty because their actions were legitimate acts of resistance.

However, the deputy prime minister for national security, Barham Saleh, said the council was discussing an amnesty offer and was deliberating how to give "people an opportunity to reintegrate within society" while at the same time "remaining firm against people who have committed atrocities and have committed crimes against the people of Iraq and against the coalition forces that have come to help us overcome tyranny."

Also today, Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for an attack on U.S. forces in western Baghdad earlier this week, according to a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.