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When millions of Shiite Muslim pilgrims descended last month on the shrine with twin gold domes in this holy city, many Iraqis expected sectarian fighting to erupt.

Instead, the largely peaceful gathering of more than 17 million Shiites provided a place of refuge from violence, with some pilgrims speaking hopefully of an end to this nation's sectarian clashes.

The road from Baghdad to Karbala, 50 miles to the south, was busy late last week, with army checkpoints crowded and the roadsides littered with stands catering to pilgrims. Many had traveled across the country some on foot the week before to mark Arbaeen, the end of the 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein, the 7th century Shiite martyr slain and buried at Karbala.

The bearded image of the imam, a key figure in the historic split between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, is everywhere in Baghdad these days: on signs, flags, billboards and banners posted in residential neighborhoods, outside businesses, police stations, even the morgue.

Those flags also flew last week from roadside stands along the highway south. Nearby buildings pocked with bullet holes were a reminder that a few years ago this area was known as the "Triangle of Death," the scene of fierce battles between the U.S. military and insurgents.

In the Euphrates Valley farming town of Jurf Nasr, 40 miles south of Baghdad, more images of Imam Hussein appeared, as well as billboards honoring hometown heroes killed battling the Islamic State insurgent group. Baghdad has remained relatively peaceful in recent weeks, but here in the belt of towns surrounding the capital, Iraqi forces and Shiite militias are still fighting the Sunni extremists who seized large sections of Iraq during the summer.

Jurf Nasr was once a Sunni town known as Jurf Sakhr, or "rocky bank," a haven for militants. But for the Ashura holiday during the fall, with Islamic State threatening to slaughter Shiite pilgrims as they passed through town toward Karbala, Iraqi security forces and Shiite militias launched a two-day assault that chased Sunni families away and left the town a battered and burned outpost. The government renamed the town Jurf Nasr, "the bank of victory."

On the far side of the Baghdad Belt, Karbala is thriving. There's a new mall, high-rise hotels and signs advertising expensive developments. The shrine is expanding, as is the one in the nearby Shiite holy city of Najaf.

Scores of pilgrims and residents filled the courtyard between the gold domes last week, the women wearing the required head scarves and ankle length gowns, or abayas. Many families slipped off their shoes to sit together on massive rugs, picnicking on falafel and sticky coconut sweets from nearby stands as their children played.

Nahedh Shaheed, 38, said he and his Shiite family were forced to flee to Karbala nine years ago from Baghdad's mixed sect neighborhood of Dora after his brother was shot and killed. They still own a house in the capital, but the area is now mostly Sunni and he is afraid to return.

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Iraq's holy city of Karbala becomes a haven from sectarian fighting