Irak podría cerrar sus fronteras con Irán para atajar la violencia, aseguran desde Líbano

14 Febrero 2007

Iraq closes borders with Iran, Syria

Inormación procedente de Daily Star

Compiled by Daily Star staff
Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Iraq will shut its borders with Iran and Syria for 72 hours and extend the hours of a nightly curfew in Baghdad as part of a US-backed plan to rein in unrelenting violence, an official said on Tuesday. The new measures were announced during another day of violence in Baghdad, in which a suicide bomber blew up a truck rigged with explosives near a college, killing 18 people.

The suicide bomber detonated his small truck in a parking lot between the College of Economic Sciences, a private university in western Baghdad's residential Iskan district, and a large foodstuff warehouse belonging to the Trade Ministry.

The border-closure moves are the clearest sign yet from the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that a crackdown against militants who are tearing Iraq apart was picking up.

The official in charge of the security plan, Lieutenant General Abboud Qanbar, who announced the moves on Iraqiyya state television, gave no timeframe. But a government official said this was expected in the next two days.

Four of the main Iranian and two Syrian border posts will remain closed for 72 hours before reopening, but others will be shut indefinitely, Qanbar said.

"All those who breach the terms of this decree will be judged under the law on terrorism by the high criminal court, which will hold special trial sessions for this purpose," he said, reading the decree.

Qanbar gave no reason for the measures, but American and Iraqi officials have accused Syria of not doing enough to stop alleged foreign fighters from crossing into Iraq.

On Sunday, senior US military officials in Baghdad presented what they called growing evidence of Iranian weapons being used to kill their soldiers and implicated the "highest levels" of Iran's government in the training of Iraqi militants. Weapons from Iran are also being smuggled across the border into Iraq, they said.

Contradicting those statements, General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the discovery of Iranian-made bombs and arrest of Iranians in Iraq did not indicate Tehran's involvement.

"That could not translate to [saying] that the Iranian government per se procured these or is directly involved in doing this," he told a news conference in Jakarta, Indonesia.

"What it does say is that things that are made in Iran are being used in Iraq to kill coalition soldiers and that some Iranians have been captured in the process of the coalition going after the networks."

Qanbar said a nightly vehicle curfew in Baghdad would be extended from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. It now runs from 11:00 p.m. until 6.a.m.
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Permits issued to civilians to carry weapons in public would be suspended for the duration of the operation, he said.

He announced unspecified restrictions on public places, giving as examples sports clubs and the offices of trade unions, companies and organizations. The drivers and passengers of vehicles traveling without number plates and registration papers are to be arrested under the anti-terrorism law, he said.

Legal action would also be taken against anyone found to be keeping a state-owned vehicle at his or her residence without official permission, he said.

The government would also force people illegally living in homes belonging to residents who had fled sectarian violence to leave, Qanbar added. Baghdad's international airport would not be affected.

Qanbar said security forces would do everything they can to avoid going into places of worship, but warned they would so in "cases of extreme emergencies when it is feared that these places pose a threat to the lives of citizens or if they are used for unlawful purposes."

Qanbar will combine under his command police and military forces, and be empowered to crack down on rogue security force units within the capital.

He said security forces also planned to monitor mail, parcels, telegrams and wireless communication devices for the duration of the operation.

He will report to Maliki weekly on the progress of the operation, suggesting that the crackdown may last for weeks.

In Riyadh, meanwhile, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari held talks with Saudi officials that touched on Saudi militants who have gone to Iraq to join the insurgents fighting the Iraqi government.

"There are citizens from the kingdom who take part in activities and acts, there are detainees. There is a need for more exchange of security information on these groups," he said.

"We have people on the kingdom's wanted lists [of militant suspects], but because of the lack of channels of communication it's been difficult to deal with this and help each other."

The announcement came a day after a series of bombings in market areas killed at least 88 people and wounded 165.

Brigadier General Abdel-Karim Khalaf said that three suspects - including two whom he described as "Asians" - were being interrogated after being arrested following Monday's blitz on the capital's commercial center. - Agencies

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