An Iraqi army cadet participates in “the leap of faith”, from a bridge as part of their training, in Baghdad, Iraq on December 15, 2023. (Photo by Ahmed Saad/Reuters)
A girl catches a fish in the marshes of the southern district of Chibayish in Dhi Qar province, about 120 kilometres northwest of the southern city of Basra, on September 23, 2020. Iraq's southern marshes are blossoming thanks to a wave of ecotourists picnicking and paddling down their replenished river bends. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)
A woman in the Sabean Mandaean community takes part in a ritual during the Prosperity Day celebration in the Tigris River in central Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, November 1, 2022. (Photo by Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)
A member from the Iraqi security forces beats an Islamic State insurgent, who was captured in Tikrit April 1, 2015. Iraqi troops and Shi'ite paramilitary fighters were battling Islamic State on Wednesday in northern Tikrit, which officials described as the Sunni Muslim militant group's last stronghold in the city. (Photo by Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters)
Iraqi army soldiers attempt to move their truck stuck in the mud near the village of Al-Boutha al-Sharqiyah, west of Mosul, on December 2, 2016, during a broad offencive by Iraq forces to retake the main hub city from Islamic State group jihadists. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)
Iraqi women practice at the sports club in Diwaniya, Iraq on November 10, 2018. On the blue mats of the al-Rafideen Club in the conservative city of Diwaniya, some 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad, some 30 female wrestlers, some still wearing headscarves, train three times a week. When a big competition comes up, they train every day. (Photo by Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters)
Ismail Mustafa, seen in 2007. “I was collecting mushrooms on the hill near here. I didn’t see the mine. There was a huge explosion. When I woke up I saw that both my legs were gone; I thought my life was over. My brother and another guy were with me. They made a stretcher from sticks and tied it together with clothing. It took two hours to get off the mountain. ‘My daughter has also been injured. She found a shell and brought it into the house and put it on the fire. She didn’t know what she was doing at the time – she was only three. She is blind and has lost an arm”. (Photo by Sean Sutton for the Mines Advisory Group/The Guardian)