The US military has said that it will continue building a concrete wall around Adhimiya, a mainly-Sunni district of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.
Colonel Don Farris, of the US army, said that after briefly halting construction of the barrier, the Iraqi government had now ordered the building of the wall to continue.
"We were asked to stop placing the barriers," Farris said on Thursday.
"Since then, it has been communicated to me through the chain of command that the prime minister and Iraqi security officials have authorised work to continue."
Residents had protested against the wall.
Farris said that construction of the barrier would continue in the near future - although he did not specify an exact date.
"We will begin placing the barriers shortly, assisting the Iraqi security forces in placing the barrier along the Adhimiya," he said.
Sunni district affected
The US army and the Iraqi security services said in mid-April they had begun constructing the wall around Adhimiya to stop Sunni car-bombers leaving the area and to stop Shia death squads from getting in.
Col Farris said on Thursday that the intention of the wall was still to stop vehicle movement into and out of the area, rather than to prevent the passage of people on foot.
 |
| The Iraqi government plans to build walls around several Baghdad districts |
"It's not a wall - if you will - the intent is that there's no limitation of pedestrian traffic," he said.
After the Iraqi government began building the wall, heavy criticism forced Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, to order a stop to the construction - an order which he has now apparently reversed.
The barrier - composed of upright concrete blocks several metres high - is part of a wider effort by the Iraqi government to halt violence in the capital.