Iraq: five years on

Baghdad; August 1 2004: An injured man receives treatment at Kindi after car bombs exploded outside at least six Christian churches in a coordinated attack timed to coincide with evening prayers Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Getty

Najaf; August 20 2004: An Iraqi Shiite man loyal to the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr prays in front of the door of a tomb Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/freelance

Najaf; August 23 2004: A man walks past as a car burns on the outskirts of the old city Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/freelance

Baghdad; September 12 2004: Dead and critically injured Iraqi civilians lie in Haifa Street after US helicopters opened fire on targets in the area Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Freelance

Baghdad; September 12 2004: Civilians lie dead after a dawn battle Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Freelance

Baghdad; September 12 2004: A dead Iraqi civilian lies in the street as a US military vehicle burns in the background in Haifa Street Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Freelance

Baghdad; September 14 2004: An Iraqi woman cries at the site of a car bomb outside a police station Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/freelance

Fallujah; November 7 2004: An Arab fighter rests next to a copy of the Qur'an after a night of heavy bombing by US forces Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/freelance

Baghdad; November 17 2004: Iraqi patients with psychological problems have lunch in the Rashad asylum Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Freelance

Baghdad; November 17 2004: A nurse holds the head of a patient at the Rashas asylum after the patient had received electric convulsive therapy Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Freelance

Baghdad; October 15 2005: Abu Theeb, the leader of a band of Sunni insurgents that preys on US targets north of Baghdad Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Freelance

Baghdad; February 4 2004: An Iraqi Shiite man holds a burned copy of the Qur'an retrieved from the debris after a bomb blast which destroyed the Shiite al-Tawheed mosque Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/freelance

Baghdad; February 19 2005: Iraqi Shiites slash their heads outside the Kadhimiya shrine at the peak of Ashura Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/freelance

Baquba; June 19 2006: Troops are facing redoubled calls for them to leave the country and hand over security arrangements to the Iraqi army Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Freelance

Baghdad; October 1 2005: An Iraqi man screams as doctors operate on his hand with no anaesthetic in the Yarmouk emergency room Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/Freelance

Baghdad; May 2006: An Iraqi Shia soldier investigates a suspected attack in Baghdad Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/freelance

Amara; October 2006: A British soldier of the Queen's Royal Hussars is dropped off by an RAF Merlin helicopter before patrolling the desert on the Iran-Iraq border close to the the southern Iraqi city of Amara Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/freelance

Baghdad; December 2006: Muhammad, a 16-year-old militia holds a Kalashnikov rifle as he mans a checkpoint around his house in east Baghdad Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/freelance

Baghdad; September 2007: Flags mark graves in a makeshift cemetery for victims of sectarian killings on the eastern outskirts the poor Shia slums of Sadr city Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/freelance

Baghdad; February 2008: A man stands in the Mutanabi books market, once a thriving intellectual hangout Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad/freelance