Iraq war - in pictures

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Iraq war - in pictures

One of those who died was Al-Jazeera correspondent Tarek Ayoub, who was killed on April 8, 2003 during a US air raid on Baghdad. He was one of dozens of journalists killed in the conflict.

Heavy fighting enrupted in the militant stronghold of Fallujah in November 2004. US and Iraqi forces battled to take control of the city ahead of elections in some of the heaviest fighting of the conflict.

US missiles hit the Iraqi capital of on March 21, 2003, marking the start of the US-led war in Iraq. The Iraq war logs show that at least 109,000 people died as a result of the ensuing conflict.

A statue of Saddam Hussein was brought down on April 18, 2003 in Baghdad. But the fall of Saddam's regime was a false dawn in the conflict, and the war logs show how the security situation deteriorated during the following months.

Less than a two months after the start of the war, George Bush, the US president, said that the US prevailed in the battle of Iraq on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. It was to prove wishful thinking on the president's part- years of conflict lay ahead.

There were hopes that the capture of Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi leader, would improve the security situation in Iraq, but the country continued its slide into violence. Saddam was executed on December 30, 2006.

The al-Askari Mosque, one of the holiest sites in Shi'a Islam, was bombed twice during the conflict. The bombings in 2006 and 2007 triggered waves of sectarian violence that claimed the lives of thousands of Iraqis.

Roadside bombs became the signature weapon of the Iraq War. Built from castoff artillery shells and other munitions, they were responsible for the killing of hundreds of American troops and civilians in Iraq.

After US-backed Sunni militias turned on al-Qaeda in Iraq, the security situation in the country began to stabilise, and US forces began to hand over powers to their Iraqi counterparts.

In August this year, seven-and-a-half years after the US-led invasion, US President Barack Obama withdrew the last 'combat troops' from the country. 50,000 US soldiers remain in the country.