Iraqi town surrounded, cleared, walled off

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. and Iraqi troops have cleared a small city in Iraq of residents and erected a 12-foot high dirt wall.

The eight-mile berm wraps around the town Siniyah of Salah ah Din province like a horseshoe, according to U.S. Central Command. It is topped by razor wire and surveillance posts.

The clear-hold-berm approach has been used successfully in places like Fallujah and Tall Afar to limit physical access to the towns, forcing traffic -- both vehicular and foot -- to move through controlled access points. There is now just one route in and out of Siniyah.

Siniyah is a small town near Bayji where there is a critical oil refinery that services northern Iraq and exports to Turkey and other locations. It suffered a spike in roadside bombs and attacks on coalition and Iraqi forces in late 2005. Locals insisted the problem was coming from outsiders - people moving in from the Syrian desert to disrupt Iraq. The entire local police force of more than 100 in Siniyah quit on Oct. 24, citing terrorist attacks and threats against their family. Two weeks later, the police station was destroyed by attacks. The city council quit and so did the mayor, according to a news release issued by U.S. Central Command.

On Nov. 29, Iraqi soldiers and U.S. Army paratroopers cordoned off the city, allowing no one to enter or leave except for those requiring urgent medical care. Supply trucks carrying food, water, and heating oil were searched and escorted to drop-off points on the edge of the city inside the cordon, according to U.S. Central Command.

The "clearing" phase began two weeks later, when 500 Iraqi and about 120 American searched the town of 29,000 house to house for 72 hours.