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| Iraq opens borders after blockade | Iraq opens borders after blockade |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| Iraq has starting re-opening its border crossings with Iran and Syria after a security crackdown, officials said. | Iraq has starting re-opening its border crossings with Iran and Syria after a security crackdown, officials said. |
| The borders were closed for three days as part of an operation targeting sectarian and insurgent violence. | The borders were closed for three days as part of an operation targeting sectarian and insurgent violence. |
| The Shalamcha crossing, east of the southern city of Basra, and other blockades along the border with Iran have been cleared, officials said. | The Shalamcha crossing, east of the southern city of Basra, and other blockades along the border with Iran have been cleared, officials said. |
| The US says Iraqi insurgents receive aid and weapons from Iran and Syria but both countries deny arms trafficking. | The US says Iraqi insurgents receive aid and weapons from Iran and Syria but both countries deny arms trafficking. |
| "We received orders today from Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to open the border posts from 0600 (0300 GMT)," General Rahdi Mohassen told AFP news agency. | |
| Two main routes into Syria and four into Iran had re-opened, a senior security official in Baghdad said. Other routes will be opened gradually. | Two main routes into Syria and four into Iran had re-opened, a senior security official in Baghdad said. Other routes will be opened gradually. |
| The border crackdown was part of a wider operation in which thousands of extra US and Iraqi troops have been sent to Baghdad to calm sectarian violence between rival Shia and Sunni factions. | |
| The blockades followed reports that radical Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr and supporters from his Mehdi Army had fled to Iran. | |
| But a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, Mohammed Ali Hosseini, denied the claims. | |
| "Once the Americans claimed he fled from Iraq, two weeks later they claimed he wanted to enter Iran, but the Iranians didn't give him a visa," Mr Hosseini said. | "Once the Americans claimed he fled from Iraq, two weeks later they claimed he wanted to enter Iran, but the Iranians didn't give him a visa," Mr Hosseini said. |
| "They have been fabricating such false claims. These baseless claims are a psychological war driven by America in Iraq in order to put more pressure on Iran. No, he is not in Iran." | "They have been fabricating such false claims. These baseless claims are a psychological war driven by America in Iraq in order to put more pressure on Iran. No, he is not in Iran." |
| Meanwhile, the leaders of Iran and Syria have accused the US, which has 140,000 troops in Iraq of meddling in that country and in Lebanon to divide the region's Muslims. | |
| "They want to push the peoples and the governments to make use of ethnicities and create divisions in the Islamic world. It is this final card that they are trying to play," Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said before leaving Tehran after a two-day visit. | "They want to push the peoples and the governments to make use of ethnicities and create divisions in the Islamic world. It is this final card that they are trying to play," Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said before leaving Tehran after a two-day visit. |