Asal Ahmed, 4, is carried by her father at the scene of a massive suicide truck bomb attack in Karada, Iraq, July 9, 2016. Asal and her mother were badly burned as they shopped for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
Iraq’s deadliest single bombing in 13 years of war turned the Baghdad district where it took place into the centerpiece in an increasingly bitter rivalry between the country’s prime minister and Iranian-backed Shiite militias eager to hold sway over the city’s most diverse and prosperous area.
For the Middle East, 2016 was a year of grueling warfare. Mercifully, it also brought opportunities for people to gather for sacred days and in celebration of their daily lives.