"... we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq... And we are ending a war not with a final battle, but with a final march toward home."
~Barack Obama, December 14, 2011.
~Barack Obama, December 14, 2011.
(AFP) Baghdad's once-bustling markets, overflowing with fruit and vegetables, live animals and books, are facing difficult times as customers increasingly fearful of bomb attacks stay away.
"Every day is worse than the one before," says Ali Hussein, a 32-year-old selling slippers and sandals from a stall outside the main Baab al-Sharqi market, in one of central Baghdad's oldest neighbourhoods on the east bank of the Tigris River.
"Before, when you worked on Fridays, it used to be a lot better. You made a good living and could afford to buy more things for your children," he adds.
"But now it is very bad, and day by day things are getting worse" because of the multiple bomb attacks in the city, he says.
On Wednesday 71 people were killed and more than 200 wounded when a dozen car bombs exploded across the capital, while a day later a bomb ripped through a fruit and vegetable market in Samarra, north of Baghdad, killing 16 people.
Wednesday's violence was claimed by an Al-Qaeda front group, and comes amid a surge in nationwide violence that has left more than 3,700 people dead already this year, sparking worries the country is edging towards the all-out bloodshed that plagued it in 2006 and 2007.
"When going to work I say goodbye to my family as if I might not see them again and then I just count on God," says Hussein, explaining how he copes with the fear of being caught up in an explosion.
More...
