New front line emerging in northern Iraq

A 1,000km trench across Iraq, which the Kurds say is designed to repel suicide bomb attacks by so-called Islamic State militants, is raising fears in Baghdad that the country is moving closer to break-up

Kurdish forces

monitoring

trenches

south of

Kirkuk

Area of semi-autonomous

Kurdistan regional government

Controlled by so-called Islamic

State (Daesh) as of Jan 18

Detail

area

100km

TURKEY

Baghdad

60 miles

IRAQ

Dohuk

300km

Rabiaa

200 miles

Sinjar

IRAN

Mosul

Irbil

NINAWA

SYRIA

Kirkuk

River Tigris

Sulaymaniyah

AL

TAMIM

IRAQ

SALAH

AD DIN

AL ANBAR

Tikrit

Khanaqin

River

Euphrates

DIYALA

Route passes through areas

Approximate line of Kurdish-built trench:

claimed by Arabs and Kurds, creating tensions between ethnic communities

Sources: BBC, Thomas van Linge

Picture: Getty Images