Perspective: War-ravaged city offers fleeing Sunnis refuge from death squads

An M1A-1 Abrams tank burns in the background after a roadside bomb in Fallujah on Friday

Month by month restive Anbar province seems to drift farther away from Baghdad. Fallujah, the war-torn city at its heart, has become a magnet for the country’s displaced Sunnis, with potentially devastating consequences for Iraq.

The tens of thousands who have fled there in recent months are seeking refuge among rival Sunni armed factions, and under tough Islamic law imposed by al-Qaeda, rather than risk a brush with the Shia militias who reign in Baghdad. “It is safe in Fallujah because all the Sunnis here are with the resistance,” said Rabia Rajab, 35, restaurant owner who ran away from the Iraqi capital.

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