US, Iraq forces build wall through militia bastion

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

BAGHDAD (AFP) — US and Iraqi forces are building a concrete wall through the Baghdad Shiite militia bastion of Sadr City in a bid to stop militiamen firing rockets at the compound that houses the Iraqi government and the US embassy, the military said on Saturday.

The wall of varying height is being constructed along the main road dividing the southern side of Sadr City from north of the sprawling district of some two million people.

The barrier of cement blocks, some up to three metres (12 feet) high, "will enclose the neighbourhood (the southern section) in order to control access in and out of the area," US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover told AFP.

He said it was the plan of the Iraqi government. "We don't operate independently," Stover...