So far, the clashes are mostly confined to the southern part of the district where US and Iraqi forces are building a barrier — reaching up to 3.6m high — to isolate it and disrupt supply and escape routes for militants.
“We really hope to block the north and the south,” said Lieutenant Colonel Tim Albers, an intelligence officer with the Multinational Force in Baghdad and the US Army 4th Infantry Division, on Thursday.
The goal of the barrier is to put the “Green Zone,” site of the Iraqi government and US embassy, out of range for militia rockets and mortars.
“Within the next two weeks we should be done with the barrier part of the plan,” Colonel Allen Batschelet, the chief of staff for forces in Baghdad, said on Thursday.
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