Armed group wants to blow up Mosul Dam
Azzaman, December 15, 2007
Security officials say scores of armed men have entered the Province of Nineveh with orders to detonate Mosul Dam.
Mosul is the capital of Nineveh Province and the dam is 60 kilometers to west of the city.
“Some 250 armed men have entered Nineveh Province with the aim of detonating the Mosul Dam,” one source said.
Another source said information was based on intelligence tips passed to provincial authorities recently.
“The men were trained in Pakistan,” the source added.
Last month, the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) warned that the dam was the most dangerous in the world and its foundations could give away any moment.
The Iraqi government has dismissed the warning, describing SIGIR’s remarks as inaccurate and “totally untrue.”
It said millions of dollars have been spent to reinforce the dam’s foundations and there was no danger of it collapsing.
But SIGIR said the U.S.-funded reconstruction money had made little progress.
The sources said the government feared the rebels would seized on SIGIR’s warning to attack the dam and cause massive damage and casualties to downstream cities and towns particularly Mosul.
A catastrophic collapse could unleash a 20m (65ft) high wave on Mosul, a city of 1.7 million.
The government is reported to have sent more reinforcements to the area. The sources said the rebels might delay an attack on the dam until May when the reservoir is almost full with the melting of snow on Turkish mountains.
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