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Now a TRENCH to surround Baghdad?!?!
Trenches to ring Baghdad
Jay Deshmukh
September 17, 2006 12:00am
IRAQ will ring Baghdad with trenches in a bid to restrict movements of insurgents, after more than 100 people were killed in sectarian attacks in the past few days.
The US military, meanwhile, announced that one of its soldiers was missing after two others were killed in a deadly suicide car bomb attack that also wounded 30.
The new security measures were spelled out yesterday by Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf.
"We will surround the city with trenches," he said.
"The entry to the capital will be permitted through 28 roads. We will seal off dozens of other minor roads with access to Baghdad."
He said checkpoints would be set up on the access roads.
Another top security official said the plan was to "monitor who is coming into Baghdad and who is going out".
"This way we will have a better control of movements, including those of insurgents."
Baghdad has a circumference of 80km and observers noted that an operation of this scale would take months to complete.
The latest measure comes after insurgents and death squads continued to kill dozens of people daily despite a massive Iraq and US security plan -- Operation Together Forward -- in place since mid-June.
More than 30,000 troops are patrolling the capital's streets to restore stability.
Officials said yesterday that bullet-riddled corpses had been recovered from the streets after the latest bout of communal blood-letting.
Most of the victims were shot dead execution-style, with bullets to their heads, and many showed signs of torture.
Pointing a finger at Shi'ite death squads, Iraq's top Sunni leader, Adnan al-Dulaimi, said that "well-known militias" were behind the killings that he warned were propelling the country towards disaster.
"If strong measures are not taken soon, the country is going towards disaster and no one will be saved," Mr al-Dulaimi said.
"These well-known militias are pushing the country to the edge of catastrophe," he said, referring to armed groups close to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Barham Saleh, said such attacks were posing a "serious challenge" to Iraq.
"There are discussions with Moqtada al-Sadr and other political leaders in the country that they all have to make a choice," he said.
"Either they are part of the political process and renounce arms and integrate into the country's political system and governing institutions, or that present situation will not be acceptable."
The US military said in a statement that the soldier was missing after a suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle next to a "hardened structure" west of Baghdad. It did not elaborate.
Another soldier still missing since the US-led invasion is Staff Sgt Keith Maupin, who disappeared from Abu Ghraib in 2004.
In the past few days, seven US troops have been killed across Iraq, taking the total US military death toll since the March 2003 invasion to 2677, according to a count based on Pentagon figures.
Jay Deshmukh
September 17, 2006 12:00am
IRAQ will ring Baghdad with trenches in a bid to restrict movements of insurgents, after more than 100 people were killed in sectarian attacks in the past few days.
The US military, meanwhile, announced that one of its soldiers was missing after two others were killed in a deadly suicide car bomb attack that also wounded 30.
The new security measures were spelled out yesterday by Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf.
"We will surround the city with trenches," he said.
"The entry to the capital will be permitted through 28 roads. We will seal off dozens of other minor roads with access to Baghdad."
He said checkpoints would be set up on the access roads.
Another top security official said the plan was to "monitor who is coming into Baghdad and who is going out".
"This way we will have a better control of movements, including those of insurgents."
Baghdad has a circumference of 80km and observers noted that an operation of this scale would take months to complete.
The latest measure comes after insurgents and death squads continued to kill dozens of people daily despite a massive Iraq and US security plan -- Operation Together Forward -- in place since mid-June.
More than 30,000 troops are patrolling the capital's streets to restore stability.
Officials said yesterday that bullet-riddled corpses had been recovered from the streets after the latest bout of communal blood-letting.
Most of the victims were shot dead execution-style, with bullets to their heads, and many showed signs of torture.
Pointing a finger at Shi'ite death squads, Iraq's top Sunni leader, Adnan al-Dulaimi, said that "well-known militias" were behind the killings that he warned were propelling the country towards disaster.
"If strong measures are not taken soon, the country is going towards disaster and no one will be saved," Mr al-Dulaimi said.
"These well-known militias are pushing the country to the edge of catastrophe," he said, referring to armed groups close to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Barham Saleh, said such attacks were posing a "serious challenge" to Iraq.
"There are discussions with Moqtada al-Sadr and other political leaders in the country that they all have to make a choice," he said.
"Either they are part of the political process and renounce arms and integrate into the country's political system and governing institutions, or that present situation will not be acceptable."
The US military said in a statement that the soldier was missing after a suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle next to a "hardened structure" west of Baghdad. It did not elaborate.
Another soldier still missing since the US-led invasion is Staff Sgt Keith Maupin, who disappeared from Abu Ghraib in 2004.
In the past few days, seven US troops have been killed across Iraq, taking the total US military death toll since the March 2003 invasion to 2677, according to a count based on Pentagon figures.
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