“The terrorists came and said ‘Shia are unclean. They must leave,’” states Abu Maen Kadhem, recalling the day Sunni militia men forced him from his home. His two brothers were killed in the evacuation and up to 1,000 other Shi’ites also ethnically cleansed from their homes. “The shock gave my father a stroke,” he laments. Kadhem’s town of Madaen hit the headlines earlier this year when scores of bodies were retrieved from the Tigris amid claims they were murdered Shi’ites. Kadhem claims Shi’ites have reached breaking point. “The religious leaders urge restraint. But people have started to lose patience,” he explains. “There is a civil war blazing but from one side only. They are killing Shi’ites.” But Sunnis claim they are the ones being unfairly victimised and raids on Sunni mosques have enflamed tensions. “The arrest of our people is a clear message of sectarianism,” states a Sunni politician. But many groups remain committed to working against sectarianism. Their hope is that the Sunnis involvement in drafting the new constitution will help quell the violence. (Out There News)