ABC
NEWSONLINE

Last Update: Monday, April 23, 2007. 11:41pm (AEST)

US, Iraqi Army defend Baghdad wall plans

---

Iraqi and US officials have defended a decision to build a five-kilometre wall around a flashpoint Sunni district of Baghdad, as street demonstrations erupted to condemn it.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been drawn into the row, telling reporters in Egypt he is opposed to the enclosure of Adhamiyah, which is surrounded by majority Shiite neighbourhoods on three sides.

But the Iraqi military says the construction of barriers will continue.