UN chief warns of sectarian tensions after Mosul

ISTANBUL — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says an operation to liberate Iraq’s second-largest city from the Islamic State group should not inflame sectarian tensions.

The secretary general said the ongoing operations to free Mosul should instead be a “symbol of national reconciliation.”

Guterres made the comments during a meeting in Istanbul with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday, according to a statement from the secretary-general’s office.

The recapture of Mosul would effectively break the back of the militant group in Iraq by ending their self-declared “caliphate” there. But many fear that the battle could give way to sectarian tensions.