Iraq: Displaced citizens returning home

BAGHDAD, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Thousands of Iraqi citizens who fled their homes during sectarian violence have begun returning to the region, the Iraqi government said.

The U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks reported Sunday that Iraqi government officials said a mass exodus of Iraqi citizens have returned to their homes following a recent decline in regional violence.

Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration spokesman Sattar Nawroz said Saturday that nearly 3,100 families had returned to Baghdad since the middle of 2007.

While Nawroz credited joint U.S.-Iraqi security efforts for the increased peace in the regional around the capital city, he also recognized the efforts of so-called "Awakening Councils" that have been fighting area insurgents.

"But this doesn't mean that the security of these families is related only to the presence of troops in their neighborhoods as local councils, which are led by chieftains and dignitaries, will keep protecting them after the troops pull out," he said.

The Iraq government has estimated that nearly 160,000 families had been displaced from their regional homes since February 2006, IRIN reported.