BAGHDAD — Even as the Iraqis are removing some of the concrete blast walls that divide Baghdad, authorities have quietly installed about 100 metal gates near a major Shiite shrine — a clear sign of security concerns as bombings continue.
Perforated gates have been put up in the past three weeks in the heavily policed Kazimiyah district along streets and alleyways leading to the shrine of Imam Mousa al-Kazim, a much revered eighth-century Shiite saint. Security cameras also are being installed at the gates of the double-domed complex.
The street gates were put up after back-to-back suicide bombings near the shrine April 24, which killed 71 people. It was the deadliest attack in Iraq in more than a year.
The new security measures serve as a reminder that the Iraq conflict is not over. Extremists remain able to carry out morale-sapping, spectacular attacks against Shiite targets only weeks before U.S. combat troops are due to leave Baghdad and other cities to outlying garrisons.
Residents of Kazimiyah, whose shrine attracts millions of Shiite pilgrims, are divided over the gates.
Some complain that they obstruct the flow of vehicles and pedestrians, creating long lines that offer militants a tempting target. Others praised them as an effective method to keep out potential bombers.
Brig. Gen. Dhafer Abed al-Mohammedawi, the Kazimiyah security chief, offers no apologies for the gates.
“Staging an attack in Kazimiyah is a big deal. It is the heart of Baghdad,” he said. “You cannot bring a car bomb into Kazimiyah, but there were many soft points that the gates should take care of.”
Kazimiyah, however, is an especially sensitive neighborhood.
An attack that damages the shrine could re-ignite the kind of brutal violence that followed the bombing of another important Shiite mosque north of Baghdad in 2006.
