Monday, July 9, 2007

Me,My Wife and the Sniper


Today's morning My wife wanted to visit her father , who lives in Adhamyia , so before I went to work we took a taxi (finally , after many taxi drivers refused to go since it's a dangerous area) he refused to get us inside the neighborhood , he took us to Antar square(Adhamiya gate) and from there we would walk till her parent's house .Since the early morning the bullets didn't stop mixed with some explosions I couldn't tell where the bullets are from , but it was near that's for sure , about 8:30 the situation seemed to be settled , so we decided to go .At 9:00 we were at Antar Square and as soon as we got down from the taxi and walked a few steps near the Olympic club , I heard a gun shot !! It was loud with echo!! I'm sure it's not AK-47 and I'm sure it's inside the building because of the echo….. Then there was another shot …..It was so scary , so close and so loud , my wife was in panic , she was so scared I pushed her from the side-walk to the building wall (so that we would be a harder target) there was no one in the street but us .We stood there for a few seconds , then there was silence , we decided to continue , we walked and just before the concrete ex-checkpoint there was a gunshot and I saw the impact of the bullet beside me , another one in front of me , I pushed my wife to the nearest building and we hided there , there were only five people in the street a women and a man in front of us and one women on the other side of the street , we all hided in the same building except for the women on the other side , then the women who hided with us told me that this is a sniper , he will kill anyone , he doesn't care , she said yesterday he killed a mother and her daughter in front of her eyes , I was so shocked I asked her : is he in the Olympic Club building ?She said :yes!!!!!!! That's amazing, this building is controlled by the national guards, in fact this building is a bunker now for the national guards, the sniper must be a National Guard member , otherwise how could he be in the building???.
We lingered in the building for about 5 minutes of horror and panic , the street was so empty , we decided to run and get in the near-by alley which is very close to us .We ran and finally we did it we are safe from the sniper view (in the beginning of the video of my post "Neighborhood of Sorrow" is Antar square and the Olympic Club building is the building in the corner where the army vehicles are parked , the street that we walked in is the same street in the video) .we continued walking in the alleys till we got to the other main street then we reached the house at 9:20 . now I must get back to my work so I took another way which I thought is safer , but later I realized that if I was late another 10 minutes I would be dead…I reached the clinic and I asked about what happened , one of my colleagues said that in Alkaam (or Ragheba Khatoon) neighborhood which is parallel to Adhamyia there was an ambush for the US troops by the militants in the early morning , the clashes continued for two hours , at about 9:35 the US troops withdraw from Alkaam through the same road that I walked in and thought was safer….he said that they shot everything on their way , all the houses and cars that they saw on their retreat .At the same time in an area near Adhamyia called Alnidaa` mosque a police checkpoint was attacked by the militants and many police members died .Also at the same time near Alnahtha garage there was a big explosion many people died in it , I don't know the number or how did it happen because an assistant in the clinic saw it by her self and told me about it .Also yesterday my wife's aunt was near Algailani mosque on her way back home with her colleagues in the car when a sniper targeted their car and begun shooting at it , many bullets hit the car but no one was injured , she said .The sniper thing isn't new , but it's the first time that I've been in the situation. It's a very difficult situation; I don't know when will death get me!!! I have cheated him many times now.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

May God preserve you and your wife.

So Nabil and his mother went to Jordan, and his father remained in Baghdad?

Indigo

Anonymous said...

I don't know if you are able to talk to your relatives by telephone inside Iraq, but now is the time not to take chances. I am so grateful that no harm came to you, your wife or anyone else in the street with you. You must have angels watching over you.

LJM

Editor @ IJTEMA said...

Assalamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullah
I pray that you are in the best of health & imaan.
This is a short message to notify you that this entry has been selected for publishing on IJTEMA, a venture to highlight the best of the Muslim blogosphere.
To find out more about IJTEMA, and how you can further contribute, please click here.
May Allah bless you for your noble efforts.
Wa'salam

On a personal note, i pray that Allah relieves you and your fellow countrymen, of this terrible burden. Ameen

Lynnette In Minnesota said...

I'm glad to hear you and your wife weren't injured, Mohammed. Take care.

Anonymous said...

Praise be, you and your wife are safe.

Bruno said...

May your good fortune continue. You are in our thoughts.

Mohammed said...

Thanks to all of you guys for those comments.

Glory Rose! said...

very frightening!! Reminds me why I wish everyday none of my friends and family had to stay there!

Really glad you made it, please be more careful... I am sure your family would understand if you cut down the socializing!

Bless you both.

Stefan said...

Please be safe !

Anonymous said...

God save you and all other Iraqis who truly love their country

vnv4 said...

I am so very sorry you and all other Iraqis' have to go through this terror and horror. I can't even imagine how I would handle the same situation. Glad you made it ok and stay safe until the Americans are gone.

I am sorry my country invaded yours and caused all this horror.

<a href="http://www.xanga.com/buy_levitra">BuyLevitra</a> said...

Thanks for article!

<a href="http://phentermine1.eamped.com">Phentermine</a> said...

Thanks for interesting article.

<a href="http://courses.cvcc.vccs.edu/ENG112_GROSS/_Chat_Room/000008fd.htm">Anonimous</a> said...

Excellent website. Good work. Very useful. I will bookmark!