cut
03-13-2004, 02:12 PM
New steps on Iraq border security
By Peter Biles
BBC world affairs correspondent in Baghdad
The US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, has announced new measures to improve border security.
There is to be a reduction in the number of crossing points between Iraq and Iran, and a sharp increase in the number of border police.
The US-led coalition believes that foreign extremists entering Iraq have been responsible for the recent bomb attacks.
There has always been concern about the porous nature of Iraq's borders.
They cover a distance of more than 3,500 kilometres (2,200 miles).
Tikrit attack
Mr Bremer says foreign terrorists are in Iraq.
There is no estimate of the numbers, but improving border security is now a priority.
Mr Bremer says the Iran-Iraq border will have just three points of entry in future.
A new system is to be introduced to identify everyone entering or leaving Iraq. And the number of border police - of whom there are currently 8,000 - is to be doubled, and then reviewed further.
In the latest attack on coalition forces, two American soldiers were killed and five wounded by a roadside bomb in Tikrit.
The victims were from the US 1st Infantry Division.
They had only recently arrived in Iraq, as part of the major rotation of American forces that is now under way.
And in another example of the rather random nature of the violence in Iraq, one person was reported killed in a bomb explosion in a Baghdad shopping district on Saturday afternoon.
A bomb of some kind was placed inside a shop and the front of the shop has been blown out.
Glass and other debris showered across the street.
It seems that the brother-in-law of a member of Iraq's Governing Council may have died.
The police are on the scene here, a large crowd has gathered all around this street corner. These people just want to know exactly what happened here.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/3508328.stm
By Peter Biles
BBC world affairs correspondent in Baghdad
The US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, has announced new measures to improve border security.
There is to be a reduction in the number of crossing points between Iraq and Iran, and a sharp increase in the number of border police.
The US-led coalition believes that foreign extremists entering Iraq have been responsible for the recent bomb attacks.
There has always been concern about the porous nature of Iraq's borders.
They cover a distance of more than 3,500 kilometres (2,200 miles).
Tikrit attack
Mr Bremer says foreign terrorists are in Iraq.
There is no estimate of the numbers, but improving border security is now a priority.
Mr Bremer says the Iran-Iraq border will have just three points of entry in future.
A new system is to be introduced to identify everyone entering or leaving Iraq. And the number of border police - of whom there are currently 8,000 - is to be doubled, and then reviewed further.
In the latest attack on coalition forces, two American soldiers were killed and five wounded by a roadside bomb in Tikrit.
The victims were from the US 1st Infantry Division.
They had only recently arrived in Iraq, as part of the major rotation of American forces that is now under way.
And in another example of the rather random nature of the violence in Iraq, one person was reported killed in a bomb explosion in a Baghdad shopping district on Saturday afternoon.
A bomb of some kind was placed inside a shop and the front of the shop has been blown out.
Glass and other debris showered across the street.
It seems that the brother-in-law of a member of Iraq's Governing Council may have died.
The police are on the scene here, a large crowd has gathered all around this street corner. These people just want to know exactly what happened here.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/3508328.stm