The US Defense Department is fine-tuning a biometric identification system designed to improve force protection at US military bases in Iraq, the department said in a press release on Tuesday.

The 75 million-US dollar system, to be implemented as soon as possible, would use biographical data, facial photographs, fingerprints and iris scans collected from Iraqis and other non-US citizens who wanted to work in US bases in Iraq, to develop ID cards that could not be counterfeited.

Base employees in Iraq with new biometric ID cards would be required to pass through security-control points where the badges would be electronically checked, the press release said.

Work on the new biometrics-based system began in late January, when then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz pushed for an improved base-access system to provide better protection for US troops in Iraq.

The need for such a system was illustrated by the Dec. 21, 2004,bombing of a military dining facility in Mosul, Iraq, in which 22 people, including 14 American soldiers, were killed and at least 50 others were wounded.

The blast was first thought to be a rocket attack, but further investigation pointed to the likelihood that a suicide bomber had infiltrated the base - one non-US person killed could not be identified - and set off the explosion, according to the press release.

Source: Xinhua