Even as it fights ISIS, Iraq lifts some checkpoints in Baghdad

BAGHDAD — Iraqi authorities have started removing some of the security checkpoints in Baghdad in a bid to ease traffic in the country’s capital with a population of about 6 million people, a senior military commander said Tuesday.

The development appears to reflect the government’s confidence in its ability to secure Baghdad — even as it wages a weeks-long offensive to take back Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from the Islamic State group, also called ISIS.

Baghdad has seen some attacks since the Mosul operation started Oct. 17, likely ISIS attempts to divert attention from the fighting.

More than 25 checkpoints and 85 patrols were removed Tuesday from Baghdad’s eastern side of Rasafa, according to Maj. Gen. Jalil al-Rubaie, who added that more will soon be in the city’s western side.

Hundreds of checkpoints have for years dotted Baghdad as authorities struggled to establish security. Criticism escalated after the July 3 suicide bombing that killed almost 300 people, the deadliest single attack in the Iraqi capital in 13 years of war. That attack forced the government to ban the use of a bogus hand-held device supposed to detect bombs at checkpoints.

The removal of checkpoints brought relief to some residents.

“I feel happy and comfortable,” said Salam Hassan, 35, an employee at the Higher Education from the capital’s eastern New Baghdad neighborhood.

Haider Fadhil didn’t welcome the move.

“I think it’s better to keep the checkpoints despite their shortcomings,” said Fadhil, 28, owner of a kiosk in Baghdad’s western Amil neighborhood. “The move will benefit the armed groups.”

HADI MIZBAN/AP Iraqi security forces remove a concrete barrier Tuesday in Baghdad, the capital.