More than 2.77 million Iraqis internally displaced: UN

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

GENEVA (AFP) — The number of internally displaced Iraqis rose to more than 2.77 million people by the end of March, some five years after the US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday.

More than half of the displaced were uprooted after the Al-Askari shrine bombing in Samara in February 2006 which sparked a wave of ethnic violence across the country, UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis told journalists.

The new report was produced by UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organisation for Migration, and other UN agencies and NGOs.

Displacement was now continuing at a much lower rate, at least partly because communities were now much more homogenous, as many minorities targeted for persecution had sought refuge...