Iraq steps up security on Iran border

By Tim Cocks

MUNTHERIA, Iraq (Reuters) - Whether it's al Qaeda militants entering through Syria or Shi'ite militia smuggling guns or bombs from Iran, Iraq's porous borders pose a major security headache.

U.S. and Iraqi forces say they are ratcheting up policing of Iraq's frontiers to stem the flow of militants and weapons, taking advantage of security gains across the country.

"It wasn't too long ago, they couldn't talk about problem areas on the border, because border security didn't exist," U.S. Brigadier-General Keith Walker, commander of U.S. teams embedded with Iraqi forces, told Reuters.

"Now, because security is better in other places, we're re-allocating resources to the borders," he said.

At Muntheria crossing point, along the rugged, mountainous border with Iran, a line of fuel trucks snakes into Iraq.

On the Iranian side, They drive past a mural adorned with the face of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini -- Iran's leader during its eight year war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the 1980s.

They pass the border gate, and wait to be scanned by an X-ray machine installed in a white van.

"We're looking closely for weapons and explosives, also drugs," said Brigadier-General Khalid Salman Kumer, the Iraqi army officer in charge of security at the point of entry.

"We have three X-ray machines to scan all the trucks, with two agents at the screen. It takes about an hour."

At least 2,000 people a day cross here, mostly Iranian pilgrims on trips to visit holy sites of Shi'ite Islam in Iraq.

A sea of pilgrims, many of them women wrapped from head to toe in black shrouds, wait at the gate. Iraqi police search their luggage then others check their passports. Their details are checked against databases of criminal suspects.

"It's taking long, but we don't mind. I'm excited to visit the shrines of the Imams," said Ali Khusrawi, 74. "It's my first time for five years because Iraq was too dangerous before."

SECURITY WOES

Nestled on the edge of Iraq's volatile, ethnically and religiously mixed Diyala province, Muntheria is a microcosm of the many security woes the country faces. Sunni Islamist al Qaeda are active in the area -- a September bomb attack on Khanaqin, 10 km (6 miles) away, killed eight people.

Khanaqin was also the scene of a tense standoff between Kurdish forces and Iraqi security forces in August.