BAGHDAD—Iraq said Wednesday it has begun building a wall and a trench around Baghdad in a bid to prevent militant attacks and reduce the large number of checkpoints inside the city.
The Interior Ministry’s spokesman, police Brig. Gen. Saad Maan, told The Associated Press that work began this week on a 100-kilometer (65-mile) stretch of the wall and trench on the northern and northwestern approaches of the capital.
The wall will be three meters (10 feet) high and partially made up of concrete barriers already in use across much of the capital, he said. He declined to specify the measurements of the trench.
Since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Baghdad has seen near-daily bombings, mainly targeting security forces and the country’s Shiite majority.
The Islamic State (ISIS) and its predecessors have been blamed for most of these attacks, which occasionally include high-profile, multiple bombings claiming dozens of lives.
