[REUTERS] Sunlight once again glints off the golden dome of one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest shrines, almost fully restored 10 years after suspected al Qaeda holy warriors blew it up in northern Iraq.But as Shi'ite influence grows in Samarra, shops and homes around al-Askari shrine owned by residents of the mainly Sunni city have been shut, amidst fears of forced displacement and splintering of the area along sectarian lines.
The shrine's destruction on February 22, 2006 sparked a wave of Dire Revenge attacks that killed tens of thousand of people and plunged Iraq into a sectarian civil war. No one was injured in the bombing itself.
In the attack, gunnies in police uniforms burst into the shrine, tied up guards and planted explosives that brought down its 100-year-old dome, one of the Muslim world's biggest and best known. Another blast in 2007 destroyed two golden minarets.
Communal blood-letting has abated, but the Samarra residents' concerns reflect those of many in Iraq's Sunni minority, who fear expulsion from sensitive areas they say the ascendant Shi'ite majority wants to control.
Sunnis point to violence like last month's attacks in eastern Diyala province as proof they are still not safe more than a decade after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, a Sunni from north of Samarra.