Giant ditch to protect northern city from car bombs

 

By Salem Arif

 

Azzaman, June 4, 2005

 

Authorities in Mosul are building a giant ditch around the city in a bid to guard it against car bombs.

 

Mosul, 400 km north of Baghdad, has recently seen an upsurge in insurgency activity and a hike in roadside and car bombs.

 

“The construction of the ditch has started. It will be like a security wall around the city to prevent the entry of car bombs and infiltrators,” said Khasro Koran, Mosul’s deputy governor.

 

The city of nearly two million people will be ringed by moat that will make it impossible for cars and people to enter and leave unless through guarded highways connecting it to the outside world.

 

Checkpoints and roadblocks will be erected on these highways to monitor movement of people and vehicles, said Koran.

 

“The ditch will be deep and wide enough to ensure that no vehicle will be able to cross,” Koran added.

 

He said the plan was on the table eight months ago but the city did not have enough security forces to guard the engineers and workers involved in the construction of the ditch.

 

Mosul’s ditch is the first in Iraq and reminds many inhabitants of the great walls that once protected the ancient city of Nineveh.

 

Mosul is situated close to the ruins of Nineveh and is currently capital of a province bearing the same name.

 

The ditch is apparently a last resort to keep insurgents away from the city and shows that both U.S. and Iraqi troop commanders have run out of tricks on how to protect the city.

 

Thousands of U.S. troops and several Iraqi army and police divisions are assigned to secure the city.

 

But the troops still find it hard to reinstate security.

 

Districts on the city’s eastern and southern edges are said to be out of control, including Tel Afaar, the largest town outside Mosul and home to nearly 300,000 people.

 

Koran said there is now a “large concentration of troops” in Tel Afaar.

 

“We have huge military forces in Tel Afaar from the multi-national (US) troops and battalions and brigades belonging to the Iraqi army.

 

“They are present on the fringes (of the city) and are in full control,” he said.