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Shopping for guns in Sadr City

In Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood, a weapons market opens its doors every night to tribesmen who buy all kinds of arms, while the government claims to be unaware of the situation.
A buyer inspects a weapon inside a shop selling firearms in Baghdad March 2, 2006. Fearful of sectarian attacks since the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine on February 22, Iraqis are barricading homes and stocking up on weapons in a country already awash with guns. Picture taken March 2, 2006. REUTERS/Faleh Kheiber - RTR16W8K

Who would imagine that a country with 1.5 million people in the army, police and intelligence apparatuses, would have a black market where weapons such as handguns and machine guns are sold like vegetables in the market?

This is what is happening in Iraq. Every night, a number of young men set up stands in Sadr City, east of Baghdad, displaying various types of arms and munition.

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