Going Home to Falluja, A Shattered Sunni City

FALLUJA, Iraq — Iraqi forces had taken Falluja from the Islamic State months before, and Sabah Rashid was ready to return home. Police warned him not to go because of uncleared bombs in his south Falluja neighborhood, and unrecovered insurgent corpses.

Mr. Rashid, 30, moved back into his ransacked house anyway — he and his family fled the Islamic State three years ago and did not want to wait. Recently, they were camped out in their sagging house with no heat, electricity or running water. They boiled water on a wood fire. And they waited for promised government aid.

Eight months after the recapture of Falluja showed that Iraq’s government could wrest one of the Islamic State’s major support bases away from it, the victory seems at risk. The Shiite- dominated national government has not yet demonstrated that it can secure and rebuild this shattered Sunni city, soothe sectarian grievances or provide for returning residents. Iraqi and American security officials now fear that if the Sunnis of Falluja are given no reason to trust the government, they may once again embrace the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.

Local officials say Islamic State sleeper cells remain active, and many residents continue to aid the insurgents. Attacks have resumed; on January 28, a suicide car bomb killed two police officers.

Falluja had long been disaffected from the government, and it was the first Iraqi city to fall under Islamic State control. Even with the group mostly driven out, the government faced a lack of trust.

Further, the battle relied heavily on Shiite militia forces, many of which are backed by Iran, and reports of sectarian abuses of the Sunni population started almost immediately. In one case, the governor of surrounding Anbar Province said that militia fighters and some of their allies in the security forces had executed 49 Sunnis from Falluja and tortured others.

“Of course, violations occurred in some places,” by Shiite militiamen, said Salam Ajmi, a Falluja city councilman. But, he said, some Sunni residents were now cooperating with security forces.

A visit to Falluja by Times journalists showed that last summer’s battle had left some sections of the city relatively unscathed, but had reduced others to rubble. Many streets were littered with crumpled buildings, collapsed roofs and burned- out cars.

The United Nations Development Program said it had made stopgap repairs to the city’s teaching hospital and to five schools and health centers. It has restored rudimentary electricity and water, cleared debris and hired 300 locals to clean streets.

Lise Grande, the United Nations deputy special representative in Iraq, said $8.6 million of the $18.5 million allocated had been spent,

Recaptured from ISIS but yet to be secured and rebuilt.

a fraction of what is needed for rebuilding.

Hussein Ahmed, 53, who lived in an aid camp for three years, pointed to an expanse of toppled buildings: “This area was liberated in June, and it still looks the same now.” He added, “I speak for thousands of people when I say the government has forgotten us.”

Of the 320,000 people who fled Falluja for aid camps, about 250,000 have returned, the United Nations said. They are desperate to live at home again, whatever the risk.

Recently, Mohammed Saeed, 49, a neighbor whom Mr. Rashid had not seen since 2013, returned. His home was dirty and had no electricity or water, but he was moving in.

“I’m so happy,” he told Mr. Rashid. “It’s a dangerous, terrible place, but we are home.”