Iraq begins construction on Baghdad wall

[Sally]

I see that Iraq is building itself a wall around Baghdad to protect the city from ISIS. Did you iknow that the wall around the Vatican was built to protect it from Muslim invaders?


Iraq begins construction on Baghdad wall

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government has embarked on the construction of a wall around Baghdad to protect the capital from terror attacks that have been ongoing since 2003 and to isolate it from hotbeds in the northern and western parts of the country. Sunnis object to the move, fearing the wall will deepen internal divisions.

Summary⎙ Print While the central Iraqi government claims that a wall is needed around the capital for security reasons, Sunnis suspect that Baghdad is being isolated in preparation for annexation to a Shiite region.
Author Omar SattarPosted February 22, 2016
TranslatorJoelle El-Khoury
There are conflicting reports on the height and route of the barrier. The Baghdad Operations Command said in a press statement Feb. 3 that the capital will be surrounded by concrete barriers, half of them repurposed from existing ones inside Baghdad. The wall will rise to between 3 and 7 meters (10 and 23 feet) high and have a 2-meter-deep (7-foot) trench, according to al-Sumaria.

Regularly spaced control towers will also be established. Five groups of Iraqi military engineers will take part in the construction project, which started Feb. 1. The wall will ultimately engulf the surroundings of the capital and stretch over 300 kilometers (186 miles)


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Iraq begins construction on Baghdad wall - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

 

[waltky]

Triple bombing by ISIS in Baghdad Shia sector market area kills 17...

Civilians shopping for grocery drop dead after packed Baghdad markets attacked, two other bombings rip through the city
Tuesday 27th September, 2016 - On Tuesday, civilians in Baghdad’s predominant Shi'ite Muslim districts were targeted by three separate bombing attacks, one of which was later claimed by the Islamic State Militant Group (ISIS).

The first attack took place in a packed marketplace in the Baghdad al-Jadida area, the eastern region of the Iraqi capital, with dozens of civilians thronging the streets for groceries and other things - when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest, killing nine people instantly and leaving 30 others injured. Soon after, another suicide bombing attack struck the busy area in western Baghdad’s Baiyaa district, killing six and injuring 22 others. A third attack, a roadside bomb exploded in western Baghdad’s al-Radhwaniya area, close to cattle herders and merchants, killing two people.

Soon after the attack, the hardline Sunni Muslim group, ISIS celebrated the attack in Baghdad al-Jadida, claiming the attack in an online statement. Several shops, vehicles and buildings were damaged in the first two attacks and medical officials fear the number of casualties might rise. The triple attack on Tuesday comes in the same weeks as the attacks in Iskan and in Tikrit both leaving at least 12 people dead and many others injured. The militant group, that has established a stronghold in many cities in the region since 2014 has off late been losing ground as U.S.-backed Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias continue to come down hard on the militant group.

However, ISIS has been conducting such smaller, scattered attacks in the region, including some big bombings that have left hundreds of people dead so far in 2016. In July this year, the group claimed a truck bombing that led to over 324 deaths in Baghdad’s Karrada shopping area. This attack came to be known as the “deadliest single attack in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, in 2003.” The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq has said in a statement that a total of 691 Iraqis were killed and 1,016 wounded during August in terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts across the country.

Civilians shopping for grocery drop dead after packed Baghdad markets attacked two other bombings rip through the city