Iraqis celebrate. Then brutal reality dawns - Baghdad bombings

Baghdad bombings: trail of devastation

Iraqis celebrate. Then brutal reality dawns

One by one, the bombers struck - killing men, women and children as they prepared for holy month of Ramadan

Michael Howard in Baghdad
Tuesday October 28, 2003
The Guardian

For most Baghdad residents, it should have been a day of double celebration. The start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and no Saddam Hussein to spoil the party.

Workers looked forward to reduced office hours and a seasonal bonus in their pay packets. Grocery stores and sweet shops did brisk business as families prepared for ifthar, the evening meal that ends the daylight fast.

Then reality dawned. In 45 terrifying minutes, a series of apparently choreographed attacks left 34 Iraqi police officers and civilians dead, and at least 224 injured. An American soldier was also killed.

If this was to have been the country's first taste of Ramadan liberated from Saddam's regime, it was a bloody reminder that the struggle for Iraq was far from over.

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