Three years later, the Iraq war rages on

On January 31, 2005, elections for a government which would draft a permanent constitution for Iraq took place amidst massive security. After a brief lull, terrorists ripped through the country in May, killing over 700 Iraqi civilians and 79 American soldiers.

As Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda, led by Al Zawahiri, openly recruited suicide bombers to attack Western interests, the almost daily carnage continues to this day. In July, the outfit claimed responsibility for the murder of a top Egyptian envoy in Baghdad.

The Shia-Sunni clashes too escalated, and the bombing of the Al Askari Mosque, one of the holiest Shia shrines, in Samarra, 100 km northwest of Baghdad, sparked massive reprisals against Sunnis, and at least 200 people were killed in the ensuing clashes while several Sunni Mosques were attacked.

Image: An Iraqi mourns the death of her son in a car bomb explosion.

Photograph: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images