Baghdad, Iraq – Thousands of Shiite and Sunni families who once lived side by side have been forced from their homes and into a desperate exile, victims of the beginnings of ethnic cleansing a month after the bombing of an important Shiite shrine.
A sign posted in Baghdad’s famous Sunni Muslim Abu Hanifa mosque tells half the story of the growing numbers of displaced Iraqis in the wake of sectarian killings set in motion by the Feb. 22 attack on the Askariya shrine in Samarra.
“We urge those wishing to help displaced families to give their offerings to the mosque Donations Committee,” the sign said.
Sunnis have come by the hundreds, and dozens more arrive daily.
The second half of the increasingly violent and bitter tale can be found among displaced Shiites in the capital, who have fled primarily to be with other Shiites in the Sadr City slum. Followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr were waiting with a huge network in place to help.
Even before the shrine bombing, ethnic displacement had been going on for some time in neighborhoods south of Baghdad. But in the aftermath of the Samarra attack, it has become a nationwide problem.
