Sectarian conflict ignites amidst protest crackdowns
Government forces battled Sunni militants and protesters across the country, as long-standing sectarian grievances threaten to combust into open warfare.
Mourners at a funeral procession in Hawija on April 24, 2013. (KAMARAN AL-NAJAR/Iraq Oil Report)
KIRKUK - Violence continued to spread throughout Iraq's Sunni-majority provinces Wednesday, as militant protesters retaliated against government security forces in a swell of insurrections that raised the specter of a sectarian civil war.
Peaceful protests have been supplanted by a call to arms against the Shiite-dominated government, which has recently escalated a crackdown on demonstrations. The crisis boiled over Tuesday when dozens of people were killed in a prolonged battle between protesters and security forces in the town of Hawija, near Kirkuk.
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