Iraqi civil war

The Iraqi civil war occurred from 2006 to 2008, pitting various sectarian Shia and Sunni armed groups against each other and the Iraqi government, which was supported by American-led coalition forces. The conflict escalated after the bombing of the Al-Askari Shrine in February 2006, and by 2008, the National Intelligence Estimate described the conflict as having elements of a civil war. Violence declined dramatically in 2008 with the Sunni Awakening and the U.S. troop surge, but an insurgency by the Islamic State of Iraq continued to plague Iraq until the U.S. withdrawal in 2011.learn more on wikipedia