Residents of a dangerous district in Baghdad have accused the United States of hardening sectarian divisions as US forces wall them in behind a five-kilometre security barrier.

The local council leader said the community did not approve the project before construction of the concrete wall began and locals are calling it “collective punishment”.

On April 10, US troops began hauling six-tonne sections of wall into place around Adhamiyah, a mainly Sunni Arab area surrounded on three sides by Shia communities in east Baghdad.

The US military said the wall is part of a strategy to “break the cycle of sectarian violence” in the Iraqi capital.

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