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Saudi Arabia set to close border with Iraq

Saudi Arabia is planning to close its border with Iraq to prevent Iraqi militants from entering the Kingdom and to discourage Iraq-bound religious extremists transiting the country, the Saudi newspaper Al-Riyadh said Thursday.

The project to build the 900-kilometer (550-mile) "security wall" in 2008, which will run all along the Saudi-Iraqi border, will cost the country over $1 billion.

"The protection line will represent two rows of barbed wire equipped with the newest radars and infrared viewing devices," the newspaper quoted Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman General Mansour al-Turki as saying.

He said a tender for the project will be held at the end of this year. - RIA Novosti

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