Displaced find warm meals at shrine

They line up daily by the dozens in the breezy courtyard of a mosque just outside the Iraqi city of Irbil's main bazaar - displaced people from across Iraq, hoping for a hot meal.

Volunteers at the Shrine of Sheikh Chouli in the Kurdish regional capital boil chicken and rice in metal pans the size of truck wheels and spoon them into buckets and bowls. All are served, including internal refugees from elsewhere in Iraq, Bangladeshi street cleaners and even some local residents who believe the food is blessed.

But the displaced have swelled their ranks. Before the Islamic State group swept across northern and western Iraq in 2014, around 100 people would line up for food each morning. Since then the number has tripled.