Tight security in Arbil on New Year’s Eve

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: A security plan was put in place in Arbil city on New Year’s Eve, the city’s police chief said on Wednesday. “A security plan was launched in the city and surrounding areas on the occasion of the New Year,” Brig. Abdelkhaleq Talaat told IraqiNews.com. Coordination has taken place with the Asayesh (Kurdish security) forces and anti-crime police to implement the plan. Arbil, also written Erbil or Irbil, is believed to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited in the world and is one of the largest cities in Iraq. The city lies eighty kilometers (fifty miles) east of Mosul. In 2005, its estimated population was 990,000 inhabitants. The city is the capital of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region and the Kurdistan Regional Government Kurdistan RegionG). It hosts the headquarters of the Kurdistan region ministers and parliament. SS (P) 1