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
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The original Iraq travel guide. travel info & maps for Dohuk/Dahok, Erbil/Arbil/Irbil/Hewler, Sulaymaniyah/Slemani, travelling in and out, moving around, security & being a sensible traveller. Info collected February 2007 onwards. Updated regularly so keep checking back.
Backpacking Iraqi Kurdistan - Travel Guide
Search- Iraq travel
Custom Search
News & info
- Airlines & flights
- Another Iraq -news
- Aswat Al-Iraq -news in English
- Hinterland Travel Co.
- Iraq The Model - analysis
- Iraq Today -war news
- Kurdish Aspect
- Kurdish Globe -news
- Kurdish Textile Museum - Erbil
- Kurdistan Observer
- Kurdistan Regional Government
- Kurdistan Tourism guides
- Rudaw.net - news
- Soma Digest -news
- The Other Iraq
- Thorn Tree Forum - Iraq
- Wikitravel - Iraq
Topics
- Arbil (9)
- art (1)
- articles (14)
- Babylon (1)
- Basra (2)
- blogs (4)
- border (9)
- Dohuk (4)
- Erbil (11)
- FAQs (1)
- flights (2)
- German (1)
- Halabja (2)
- health (1)
- hikers (2)
- hotels (5)
- Iran (4)
- Iraq (3)
- Kirkuk (5)
- Kurdistan (9)
- map (4)
- Mosul (4)
- news (2)
- oil (1)
- photos (1)
- security (15)
- Silopi (3)
- Sirnak (1)
- Slemani (6)
- Sulaymaniyah (8)
- Syria (1)
- tourism (7)
- transport (2)
- Turkey (8)
- twitter (1)
- updates (33)
- visa (1)
- Zakho (4)
author
Donate
Followers
.
5 comments:
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?
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.
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.
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.
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)
Post a Comment