The Grave of 13 year Old Abdallah.

An extraordinary routine Iraqi story.

Abdallah is 13 year old kid,he is friend to my kids ,yesterday 21ist

of August at 6.10 pm he was very happy because his father is going to

escort his to a marriage party ,and he was standing with two of my

kids chit chatting happy stories,my two kids left him to the place

where I was standing right now shooting the image below ,and at the

same time he sit in the driver place of the car and ignite the engine

,the car just moved one meter from its place where a mine attached

under the driver seat blown .

Abdallah the 13 year old innocent boy has gone ,but not to the earthly

party ,he flew to the heavenly matrimony to follow more than one and a

half million victims since 2003.

Now my kids have lost one of their best friends and neighbors .

Abdallah is the fifth or more of my kid's friends whom to be lost in a

very similar manner in their teen ages.

The image shot few hours ago from the step of my door ,and the car is

at its same place where the explosion occurred.

very sorry to hear this.

a very sad and touching story (especially as the victim has been so young - words fail me...)  and a very disturbing photo (the shiny rim of the the front wheel is a surreal contrast to the cover and destroyed parts of the car).

Iraq has pretty much vanished from the news in Europe - what you write (that your kids have lost so many friends through nonsensical violence) sounds all but encouraging :-(

A very sad story.  A graphic reminder that we are a universal, global community when this happens to your friends in a car manufactured here in my state of Alabama, USA.... Mike

As a documentary image, this can't stand alone. I guess you have to know the story to get involved. This is sad (I have experienced similar thing - so it's not to be cold hearted) images of violent events have been much too common to get the viewer involved every time. That being said, your story touched me and i'm sorry for your loss.

(My nephew got hit head on by a pig-transport on the freeway and are still in coma after 6 months - the media ran the story about the piglets escaped the slaughter house and how the following traffic jam made many people miss their holiday flights)

I can't imagine the worry that your family must experience for your own children just knowing that this is an all too common occurrence. 

My heart felt sympathies to all those family's that live with this on a daily basis. It must be soul destroying! 

Alf 

As a documentary image, this stands alone if you live in or are familiar with the Middle East.

Hey Meir. No disrespect intended and the story got my sympathy.

Hi Saad,

It is a documentary image that displays the destructive nature of some people . It is unfortunate in life, that some people can inflect such devastation to others.

Perhaps over time, the "good" will prevail over the "evil", and life on Earth will become a much more pleasant for all to enjoy.

Best Regards my friend, Mike

This is a sad story indeed, all the more so because it was no accident.   I agree that without the text explaining the situation the impact of this shot would be largely lost.  Thanks for continuing to remind us that there is still a long way to go and much work to do before stability is reached.  In our lifetime?  I doubt it, but one can hope.  Best, LM.

Very sad story, war is hell! Only fools wage war ...  I can never understand the bad/uggly side of 'human' . What's all that for!  TFS!