(Reuters) – Iraq closed the international airport in its second largest city Mosul on Tuesday, grounding all flights without giving any explanation, air industry and security sources said.<\/p>\n
The closure affects flights to and from Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, as well as daily internal flights between the northern city and the capital.<\/p>\n
“Security forces closed Mosul airport without giving any reason. All flights are canceled,” said a source at the airport on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
Mosul International Airport was used as a base by U.S. forces during the 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein and the city was a focal point of the insurgency that ensued.<\/p>\n
Security has improved, attracting some investment, although the city remains one of Iraq’s most dangerous. Militant groups including al Qaeda still have a foothold there.<\/p>\n
“To begin with they (the authorities) said there was information about a highjacked plane, and then they said it was closed for maintenance purposes, but there are no maintenance works,” a senior security source in Mosul told Reuters.<\/p>\n
The security source said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had ordered the airport closed, though no one was immediately available for comment from the premier’s office.<\/p>\n
Maliki has been at loggerheads with Mosul governor Atheel al-Nujaifi on several fronts in recent years, including over Nujaifi’s support for protests by Iraq’s Sunni Muslim minority against the Shi’ite-led government.<\/p>\n
“We reject the closure of the airport which is the lungs of the city and connects it with other countries,” Nujaifi told Reuters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Reuters) – Iraq closed the international airport in its second largest city Mosul on Tuesday, grounding all flights without giving any explanation, air industry and security sources said. The closure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-14574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-iran-a-world","7":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n