Kurds Forced From Homes in Mosul

Over 1,000 Kurds have been killed in Mosul recently, victims of a Sunni Arab insurgent drive to force them out of the Ninevah province and into Iraqi Kurdistan. And the attacks are working, reports the International Herald Tribune; as many as 70,000 Kurds have abandoned Iraq's third-largest city.

Ethnic bitterness stems in part from the 2005 election boycott by the Sunni majority, which resulted in Kurds holding most political positions in the province, though they make up about 35% of the population. Sunnis have asked for new provinicial elections but the government hasn't responded. Kurdish militias have not yet engaged in large-scale reprisals, but some officials see it as only a matter of time. (More Iraq stories.)