Military partitioning Sadr City

BAGHDAD, April 19 (UPI) -- The U.S. military has started to wall off the southern part of Sadr City in Baghdad, hoping to secure it and make it a model of reconstruction, officials said.

The area is adjacent to the Green Zone, where the U.S. and Iraqi governments have their offices and foreign embassies are located. Securing it would make it harder for militias to fire rockets into the Green Zone.

The large concrete barrier is being constructed on Al Quds Street, The New York Times reported.

"You can't really repair anything that is broken until you establish security," said Lt. Col. Dan Barnett of the Second Stryker Cavalry Regiment. "A wall that isolates those who would continue to attack the Iraqi Army and coalition forces can create security conditions that they can go in and rebuild."

Sadr City is the base of the Mehdi Army, the militia loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Sadr.