Iraq has experienced another outbreak of serious sectarian violence between the Sunni Muslim minority and the Shi'ite majority.
In less than a week, more than 220 Iraqis have been killed in a wave of attacks.
The United Nations has urged Iraq's political leaders to take measures to end the violence.
At the same time, there are also suggestions that fixing Iraq's current troubles are in part the responsibility of the countries involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, including Australia.
Kerri Worthington reports.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has announced an overhaul of Iraq's security strategy as a fresh surge of violence killed dozens of people, including civilians and police.
Police say a series of car bomb explosions targeted Shi'ite Muslims across Iraq.
Nuri al-Maliki says the attacks harken back to a more turbulent era in the country's recent history.
"Today's cabinet meeting has been held to the backdrop of crimes committed by detonating car bombs targeting innocent people in Baghdad, Basra and other provinces. This has been repeated increasingly recently and comes in addition to the increased kidnapping and abduction of innocent people. Such attacks remind us of the crimes committed in Iraq when it was a forum for terror and terrorists around 2006 and 2007."
Tens-of-thousands of people died at that time, and there are fears Iraq could again heading down the same path.
Tensions between Shi'ites and Sunni Muslims are nothing new, but increased when the bodyguards of a prominent Sunni politician were detained and accused of terrorism in December.
Sunnis accused authorities of marginalising and targeting their community, through wrongful detentions and accusations of involvement in terrorism and mounted protests which continue to this day.
April was pronounced the deadliest month in Iraq in years by the United Nations, with more than 700 people killed, many in clashes with Sunni anti-government protesters and security forces.
UN representative Martin Kobler told the ABC the two sides need to reach a compromise, before Iraq slides into civil war.
"Iraq is the divide. It is the fault line between the Shia and the Sunni world. I think it's very dangerous, but the situation one must say is not out of control. It is still under control. However we are increasingly concerned about the casualties in the country. Now, it is… today the Shias are suffering, tomorrow the Sunnis are suffering."
A former secretary to Australia's Department of Defence says this recent violence stems from the 2003 United States-led war in Iraq that ousted President Saddam Hussein.
Paul Barratt is now the president of the group calling itself the Campaign for an Iraq War Inquiry.
The group is calling on the federal government to investigate Australia's decision to join the U-S in the invasion.
Mr Barratt says one of the mistakes the Western coalition made at the time was to remove anybody in Iraq's public administration who had been a member of the then-ruling Ba'ath party.
"Even the apparatus that could have been taken over to maintain public order under the occupation was dissolved -- a huge mistake. So enormous violence has resulted from just the sheer error of invading the country in the first place, but also how the occupation took place."
Mr Barratt says before the 2003 war Iraq was a truly secular state, where religious sects lived together without much tension.
He says the deaths of so many Iraqis since 2003, on top of the legacy of no running water or electricity and a lack of other services, was too high a price to pay for the removal of Saddam Hussein.
Mr Barratt says fixing the current situation is the responsibility of the US, Australia and others involved in the invasion.
But he instead, they're trying to blame internal factors for the ongoing violence.
"The invasion was illegal. When you conduct an illegal invasion, under international law you are responsible for reparations. And the governments like to maintain the position the war is not over because once it's over the questions of reconstruction would arise. So it's very important to the invading governments that there be a friendly administration in power in Iraq that won't ask for reparations, and meanwhile it's important to maintain the idea that the war goes on."
