NEW YORK (AP):
SOME 150,000 Iraqis have been displaced in a surge of sectarian violence sparked by the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine four months ago, the United Nations said yesterday.
The U.N. office in Baghdad said it now estimates that 1.3 million people are displaced in Iraq, about five per cent of the population of 25 million.
"While many were displaced as long ago as the early 1980s, the last four months of increasing violence and relent-less sectarian tensions have resulted in the displacement of a further 150,000 individuals," the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq said.
The statement was expressing concern about the wave of violence, which escalated sharply following the February 22 bombing of the 1,200-year-old Askariya Shrine in Samarra.
REPRISAL ATTACKS
The bombing sparked a spate of reprisal attacks targeting Sunni Arabs, their mosques and clerics. Sunnis, the minority in Iraq, blamed many of the attacks on the majority Shiites, including what they claim are Shiite death squads affiliated with the Interior Ministry.
Unrest and violence following the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime have also fueled the refugee crisis, with Shiites and Sunnis fleeing their mixed neighbourhoods after receiving threats from rival groups seeking to stoke sectarian tension in the country.
The U.N. findings come two days after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced a recon-ciliation plan Sunday, offering limited amnesty to opposition fighters.