Iraq's Sunni bloc is boycotting parliament and Tariq al-Hashemi, the country's Sunni vice-president, has fled to the Kurdish-controlled north to avoid being arrested on terrorism charges. <br /><br />Most of his staff were arrested and some tortured, and Hashemi says Sunni persecution and lack of a state-supported peaceful solution could lead to more intense armed independence struggles.<br /><br />The country's religious tensions are heightening, and both Sunnis and Shias are being killed in attacks across the country.<br /><br />Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf reports from Erbil in northern Iraq.
