In Bashir, a Shiite Turkmen town recently liberated from the “Islamic State,” tensions that could lead to a new conflict in Iraq are palpable.
Shia
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As ISIL steps up attacks on Shiite areas, capital’s residents put blame on Iraqi politicians seeking to cling to power.
While both Iraq’s Kurdish fighters and Shiite militias played a key role in blunting and then reversing ISIL’s surge in Iraq, relations have been shaky from the outset.
With the war on ISIS deepening the Iraq’s religious divide, thousands of Sunni Arabs moved to the autonomous Kurdish region to escape the fighting in Anbar province and a sectarian backlash in government-held areas.