THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ: CHALLENGES AWAIT RETURNEES - Returning home to uncertainty - Some Iraqis, lured by calm and pledges of aid, are venturing back. But they know that trust will be hard to rebuild.

They are here to trumpet the revival of this town northwest of Baghdad, which is witnessing the return of thousands of residents, among an estimated 4.2 million Iraqis who have fled sectarian violence in recent years. Ahlam Kareem is here to see what remains of her home, which she last saw 14 months ago.

Iraqi officials say tens of thousands of Iraqis are returning to their homes, drawn by improved security and financial aid packages offered by a government eager to bring its people back.

But the effort, which includes Iraqis returning from other countries and those who relocated within Iraq, is fraught with problems -- not least the specter of bombings such as the triple blasts that killed at least 41 people Wednesday in southern Iraq.

Some, like Kareem, a widow, are finding their homes looted, scorched and uninhabitable. Some, like Abu Ayad, a Shiite Muslim who brought his family back to the Sunni Muslim-dominated Ghazaliya neighborhood in Baghdad, are being driven out again by lingering sectarian tensions. In the latter case, neighbors say, someone tried to burn down his home days after the family's return.

Many, like Zaher Salman, who returned to Saba al Bor from Syria early last month, came because they could not afford the higher cost of living elsewhere, or because their visas had expired. Salman laments he has no way to earn a living because he was robbed on the highway from Syria and lost everything, including the car he used for his taxi business.

"I'm staying here because I don't have any money left," he said. "I hope it will stay safe."

People coming back are eligible for about 1 million Iraqi dinars, or roughly $800, and a monthly payout of about $120 for six months after their return.

But the country is struggling to revive schools, clinics and other essentials needed to care for a population traumatized by the past and edgy about the future.

So delicate is the situation that the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees issued a warning Nov. 23 about moving too quickly. The agency said it did not believe that Iraqi social services or security were adequate to handle the large-scale return of displaced people.