Iraq, U.S. plan to seal off Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- The latest security plan for Baghdad involves surrounding the city with trenches and funneling all vehicle traffic through 28 checkpoints.

Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf of the Interior Ministry said the trenches would be dug in open areas to prevent cars from bypassing checkpoints. Smaller roads into the city will be closed.

"We're going to build a trench around Baghdad so we can control the exits and entrances so people will be searched properly," Khalaf told The New York Times in a telephone interview. "The idea is to get the cars to go through the 28 checkpoints that we set up."

In July, when U.S. and Iraqi forces set up additional checkpoints inside the capital, the number of killings rose dramatically. Officials said the violence was cut in August -- if only in comparison to July -- by a program of neighborhood sweeps.

Khalaf said sealing off the capital is critical to the success of the security plan. But Baghdad has a circumference of 60 miles, making the task a large one, the newspaper said.