Iraq says border improved but more security needed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's tightening of border security has cut the number of infiltrators entering illegally, a senior border guard officer said on Sunday, and U.S. officials said the number of foreign fighters coming into Iraq had fallen.

Major-General Mohsen Abdul-Hassan, director general of Iraq's department of border enforcement, told a news conference that the number of border guards had reached around 43,500, nearly twice the force's size under Saddam Hussein.

"I can say with confidence that the border with neighboring nations is more than four times better than the past," he said.

"I did not say we have controlled the border 100 percent. Compared to the past years, 2006 and 2005, the number of infiltrators has dropped," he said.

U.S. officials said on Sunday the number of foreign fighters making their way into Iraq has fallen from about 80 to 110 a month in the first half of 2007 to about 60 a month this summer.

In October, no more than 40 entered Iraq, they said, partly due to a U.S. military raid on a camp near the Syrian border believed to be a base for ushering fighters into Iraq.

The United States has said Damascus needs to do more to stem the flow of foreign fighters crossing from Syria into Iraq.

Washington also accuses Iran of funding, training and arming Shi'ite Muslim militants in Iraq. Tehran denies this and blames rampant violence in Iraq on the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

This week, the U.S. military blamed a bomb attack on a popular Baghdad pet market, which killed 13 people, on Iranian-backed militants.

"SERIOUS" PROBLEM

Asked about the number of "infiltrators" crossing from Iran, Abdul-Hassan said: "From Iran, a lot of infiltrators travel (to Iraq), yet we take measures against them."

He said not all those entering Iraq illegally were identified as terrorists.

At the same news conference, U.S. Brigadier-General James Yarbrough said "traffic" across the border with Iran was still "serious."

"We are welcoming Iran's declaration that they want to stop fighting in Iraq," he said.

"(But) I think we are going to take a wait-and-see approach right now to see if we can measure that they (the Iranians) have indeed reduced the amount of weapons ... across the border as well as the training that they're doing in Iran," he said.

Abdul-Hassan said the number of border-crossing stations along Iraq's 3,631 km-long (2,270-mile) border with six countries has increased from 176 in mid-2006 to 585. But he said more stations were needed to fully control the frontiers.

Advanced surveillance equipment was needed to help cover "holes" between border crossing stations, as well as roads to enable troops to reach remote areas and sustained cooperation from neighboring nations.

"Not a single country in the world can protect its border alone," he said.

(Additional reporting by Missy Ryan, writing by Alaa Shahine)