Some Mosul residents face new fears after Islamic State rule

Buildings destroyed during previous clashes are seen as Iraqi forces battle with Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq January 23, 2017. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Mohamed Mahmoud is relieved he no longer has to watch Islamic State militants hang corpses from electricity poles, now that Iraqi forces have cleared the group from his east Mosul district. But he still fears for his safety.

Like other Iraqis, he worries that destructive forces like sectarianism, which already provoked one civil war since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, will destabilise Iraq even if Islamic State is completely removed from Mosul.