Post date: Apr 28, 2012 2:44:17 PM
BAGHDAD, IRAQ (APRIL 28, 2012) (REUTERS) - Security forces pulled down hundreds of the concrete blast walls in the centre of Baghdad on Saturday (April 28), their presence a stark reminder of the country's recent occupation and continuing unrest.
Baghdad authorities lift around 400 blast walls in some of the citiy's main streets to help residents get back to normal almost 10 years after they were first erected.
The walls, first erected in 2003 and which multiplied in 2006 and 2007, at the height of the violence, have also divided communities, blocked the capital's already heavy traffic and stood as grey symbols of ongoing strife and insecurity since allied forces left.
People living here had to struggle daily through the concrete maze, especially around military and government installations, tip toeing through razor wire and wading through checkpoints and barricaded neighbourhoods. Commuting was exhausting, getting around town was a tiring, not to say depressing.
The first blast walls were taken down in August 2009 after the first pull out of US troops. But hundreds stayed to help protect Baghdad under constant attack. At least thirty people were killed in bomb attacks in several parts of the city two weeks ago, on April 19.
Although violence has substantially dropped since its height in 2007 it surged up again immediately after the final troop pullout when about 72 people were killed in a wave of bombings just days after the last US troops left Iraq in December 2011.
But they have choked the city and residents' lives for years ruining efforts to rebuild the city.
Security forces on Saturday said they were pulling down about 400 of the blast walls around the central market of Shurja. Others were taken away from the Nahdha areas.
"We welcome this initiative, the final, not the partial lifting, of the concrete barriers. God willing the market will re-open and economic activity will increase and become much better. We hope this initiative will be good for the people and the country," said a resident, Hussein Abid.
A spokesman for the Iraqi ministry of defence said he hoped residents would see the removal of the blast walls as a sign of increased security.
"The military executed the order of the commander of the military forces and lifted concrete barriers from Baghdad's streets, openning up areas for people to go go about their normal life and benefit from the noticeable security improvement in Baghdad," said Colonel Dhia al-Wakeel, a spokesman of the Ministry of Defence and the Baghdad Military Operation.
The concrete barriers were installed after the U.S. invasion of Iraq and most of them were concentrated around Baghdad's government and military Green Zone complex, U.S. and Iraqi bases, embassies and other high-security buildings.