Three years later, the Iraq war rages on

Attempts to impose order in Iraq were marred as various regions of the country erupted in violence, with Shias, Sunnis, and Kurds battling for dominance and a role in post-war Iraq. Various insurgent outfits too regrouped to step up attacks on the occupying forces.

Things worsened following the release of pictures highlighting atrocities by US forces in Abu Ghraib, a prison some 32 km west of Baghdad.

By June 2004, limited powers were given to a transitional government led by Iyad Allawi, who struggled to reconcile the various violent factions wanting a slice of the pie, and to control the growing acts of terrorism. Suicide bombers struck across the country almost daily, and the death toll continued to mount rapidly.

Image: This unsourced picture alleges to show Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in an unknown location in Iraq after his capture by US troops on December 13, 2003 from an underground hole on a farm in the village of ad-Dawr, near his hometown of Tikrit in northern Iraq. The unauthorized images, from a series of images of the deposed dictator, were allegedly not been cleared for release by the US army but have been in open circulation on the internet.

Photograph: Getty Images