Thursday, May 10, 2007

safety

On Wednesday May 9, a truck bomb exploded in Erbil outside the KRG Interior Ministry building, next to the citadel. At least 19 people were killed with 100 injured. This just shows that Kurdistan is still not immune from the violence that affects the rest of Iraq. Please ensure you stay up to date on the security situation and be as safe as possible in the decisions you make in travelling to or within Iraqi Kurdistan.

Truck Bomb in Erbil

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for update. I've got a question. I put it here because I'm not sure if you'd check comments in your older posts. Coming from Turkey, you say there is no Iraqi Visa needed, but that a stamp is put on a passport page. But I'm not quite clear if coming in from Syria. Would you have to have obtained an Iraqi visa beforehand? Or would you get one at the border? Also, I guess there is the issue of coming back into Syria afterwards (which I would do) and how they'd view someone coming in from Iraq. Any suggestions/ideas?

Anonymous said...

Re direct travel from Syria:

While it might be possible to cross over from northeastern Syria to Iraq, it's an extremely bad idea. The region around Sinjar is not under the control of the KRG, and appears instead to be under the control of a local Salafi guerrilla group.

Anonymous said...

Ah, ok. Thanks for that, anonymous. Last people I want to meet, are a Guerilla group. My concern was also that Syria would look badly on me coming to and fro there. My intentions are to carry on down into Jordan afterwards, and I don't want to have that screwed up. I guess the Turkey route into Iraqi Kurdistan would be wiser then, before I enter Syria. At the moment, this is just a "possibility". As has been pointed out, things appear to be getting a bit dicey again in Kurdistan.

Backpack Iraq said...

Crossing anywhere that is not controlled by the KRG is a bad idea. And the events of last week are a reminder that within the Kurdish region there are still dangers.

So if you're going in I'd still recommend only using the Silopi/Zakho crossing.

Anonymous said...

Thanks. Seems the Silopi route is best then. You mention that the Visa is just a stamp at that entry point, for no charge? Everywhere else I read on the web,it seems to say people must get a Visa for Iraq in their country for entry to Kurdistan. But I guess that is just an "official" line which is probably ignored, and is probably for people who would intend to go into Arab Iraq. Most of the official Iraqi Kurdistan websites seem to say about obtaining a visa before. Although,one mentioned the visa being issued on the spot at the Silopi border, for $80 (I can't remember where I read that now though). As far as you know, do most nationalities get this free stamp / border visa? (such as British)