Iraq reopens southern border crossing with Iran: IRNA

TEHRAN - Iraq on Sunday reopened a major southern border crosing with Iran, with the Islamic republic warning its citizens not to go to Iraq because of the security situation, the official IRNA agency reported.
Iraq closed the Shalamcheh crossing, close to Iraq's second city of Basra on the Gulf, on March 28.
Iranian media reported that the unilateral closure had trapped various Iranian pilgrims on the wrong side of the border.
The crossing was reopened on Sunday, regional governor Mohammad Ali Shirali was quoted as saying.
"Only those who hold visas can travel to Iraq through the Shalamcheh frontier post, but our advice is that they do not do so because of security situation in that country," he said.
Millions of Iranian Shiite pilgrims have travelled to Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, many illegally.
US and Iraqi authorities regularly accuse Tehran of not doing enough to stop insurgents crossing into the strife-torn country, charges strenuously denied by the Islamic republic.

04/03/2005 17:48 GMT