Military: Captured insurgent documents include IDs for green zone, embassy

One of many checkpoints that lead the way to Baghdad's heavily fortified 'Green Zone'.

WASHINGTON – Documents captured in recent fighting in Baghdad included two identity cards for access to the fortified Green Zone, which contains Iraqi government headquarters, and an ID card for access to the U.S. Embassy, the Pentagon says.

The area where the documents were captured – just west of the Green Zone – has been a stronghold of Sunni extremists linked to al-Qaeda, said Army Col. Steven Townsend, commander of 3rd Stryker Brigade that led the operation...

The adequacy of security in the Green Zone, also known as the international zone, has recently come into question, particularly in the aftermath of the April 12 suicide bombing in the Iraqi parliament building's dining hall. One lawmaker was killed in the blast, which was claimed by an al-Qaeda-led amalgam of Sunni insurgents.

About two weeks before that attack, two suicide vests were found unexploded in the Green Zone. Less than a week before that, a rocket attack in the restricted zone killed an American contractor and an American soldier.

Read the rest at the San Diego Tribune

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