Jordan and Iraq step up security

AMMAN - Iraq says it has agreed with Jordan to bolster security co-operation to stem the flow of Muslim militants crossing the border to fight with insurgents. 

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, who is accompanying President Jalal Talabani on a visit to Amman, did not elaborate on the measures, but Jordanian officials said they included greater intelligence sharing and boosting border security.  

"We agreed on mechanisms to deepen security co-operation especially as we face the problem of terrorism, killings and destruction," Zebari told reporters.  

Hundreds of militants from various Arab countries have infiltrated Iraq over the last two years to take part in the insurgency aimed at forcing out US-led troops. Many have entered the country via Jordan.  

Zebari said Talabani's visit to Jordan had ended a rift in ties with the kingdom, strained by reports a Jordanian was behind the deadliest suicide bombing in postwar Iraq.  

"We had a transient crisis in our ties. We agreed to stand united against anything that harms our relationship and we trust the pledges we got from the Jordanians," Zebari said. 

Bilateral ties suffered a blow over reports that a Sunni Jordanian carried out a suicide bombing that killed 125 people south of Baghdad on February 28 and that his family had celebrated him as a martyr.  

Zebari said the predominantly Sunni Muslim insurgency was helped by foreign militants like Jordanian-born Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the al Qaeda leader in Iraq, whose group has claimed some of the deadliest bombings. 

"Today we think that many of these terrorist networks benefit from the climate of destruction to move freely in the region. They are terrorist cells that come from outside and move in this region," Zebari added.  

Talabani's visit to Jordan is his first foreign trip as Iraq's head of state since taking office last month.  

Amman is a staunch US ally and has given aid to Washington's military campaign in Iraq.  

- REUTERS