BAGHDAD, Iraq: A United Nations-affiliated agency said violence has displaced more than 25,000 Iraqis since the Feb. 22 bombing of the holy Askariain shrine, and shelters and tent cities are springing up across central and southern Iraq to house homeless families.

The flight is continuing, according to the International Organization for Migration, which works closely with the United Nations and other groups.

The agency's figures were compiled from information provided by partner organizations working with displaced Iraqis. The government Ministry of Displacement and Migration puts the count higher, at more than 32,000.

"I was shocked to be threatened by people from the same place I had lived in for so many years," said Hussein Alwan, 53, who said he was driven out of Latifiyah.

Alwan traveled with his wife and seven children this month to the holy city of Najaf, where authorities have converted a vacant hotel into a shelter and say they are gathering tents for an outlying camp. Iraqi newspapers reported tents pitched in a field outside another southern city, Nasiriyah, for families fleeing violence.