Iraq has closed its borders with Iran and Syria as part of a security crackdown aimed at stopping foreign fighters and weapons from entering the country, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said yesterday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the closures took effect on Wednesday.
Iraq said it would shut the borders for 72 hours. The US military said on Wednesday the aim was to allow procedures and the layout of border positions to be revamped.
Washington accuses Syria of allowing foreign fighters to cross its long, porous borders into Iraq and says Iran is supplying weapons, including roadside bombs, to Iraqi militants to kill US soldiers. The two countries have rebutted the claims.
Iraq said on Tuesday it would close four border crossings with Iran and two with Syria to try to quell sectarian violence.
In related news, an adviser to Iraq's prime minister said yesterday that radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was in Iran, but denied he fled because of fear of arrest during an escalating security crackdown.
Adviser Sami al-Askari said al-Sadr traveled to Iran by land "a few days ago," but gave no further details on how long he would stay in Iran.
A member of al-Sadr's bloc in parliament, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisals, said al-Sadr left three weeks ago.
The statement came a day after conflicting reports on al-Sadr's whereabouts. US and Iraqi forces have increased pressure on backers of the anti-US cleric and other militants in a major security operation that began in force this week.
The chief US military spokesman, Major General William Caldwell, said al-Sadr "is not in the country" and that "all indications are, in fact, that he is in Iran."
It was not immediately clear whether al-Sadr's absence would lead to divisions among his loyalists, which include the Mahdi Army militia that has close ties to Iran.
The mercurial al-Sadr often drops out of public view for weeks or months at a time.
Last week, US and Iraqi troops raided the al-Sadr-controlled Health Ministry in Baghdad, arresting Deputy Health Minister Hakim al-Zamili.
The US accused al-Zamili of diverting millions of dollars to the Mahdi Army and allowing death squads to use ambulances and government hospitals for kidnappings and killings.
Meanwhile, a suicide car bomber attacked an Iraqi police station in the western city of Ramadi, killing 11 people including four police, the US military said yesterday.
Wednesday's attack also wounded 21 people, a spokesman said.
Iraqi medical and security sources in the city said the police station was severely damaged in the blast.
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