Baghdad families return home

2008-08-27 19:06

Baghdad - One in 10 Baghdad families that fled sectarian violence is now returning home, as the security situation in the capital improves, a spokesperson for the Iraqi military said on Wednesday.

"Of the 92 000 displaced families in Baghdad, 11 000 have returned to their homes and we hope that this number will increase soon," Major General Qassim Atta told reporters.

"Al-Qaeda had a plan to divide the capital along sectarian lines, ensuring that each sect is well separated from the other," he added.

A government study in February found that 43% of the 212 063 families displaced across the country are from Baghdad.

Tens of thousands of families fled their homes in the city and in other regions after the eruption of sectarian violence following the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in the central city of Samarra in February 2006.

According to the United Nations the wave of violence ended in the summer of 2007 and a tentative return began in autumn last year, especially in Baghdad.

"There are terrorist groups who do not want families to return but the government and the army are closely tracking the situation," Atta said.

Last week the son of senior Sunni lawmaker Adnan al-Dulaimi was arrested on allegations that he had placed a bomb in the home of a displaced family in a majority Sunni district of Baghdad.

- AFP