I lost 11 members of my family in less than one year

Abbas Dawood, IRIN

I'm 29-years-old. I've been handicapped since 18 January, 2006, when I lost my leg in an explosion while I was working as a waiter in a Baghdad restaurant. On the same day I lost my brother Muhammad, who was working with me at the restaurant. He was only 19-years-old and didn't survive his injuries. In March of last year, I lost my mother, Suheiya, and my father Dawood. They were killed inside our home. A militia member asked them to leave the neighbourhood but they refused because they were too old. They were shown no mercy and were brutally shot dead. I'm still a bachelor because my fiancee broke up with me last September after I became handicapped. In addition to all this, I lost my only uncle, Abu Omar, his wife, and their four children, while they were trying to flee the country to Syria. Insurgents stopped them, accused my uncle of being a traitor and shot dead the entire family...

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