IRAQ: Baghdad's busy ambulance drivers enjoy the recent lull in violence

With the levels of violence dropping across the city, ambulance drivers in Baghdad are finding their days to be less hectic and are able to enjoy their working life at a slower pace than before. The wail of ambulance sirens is a common sound on Baghdad's chaotic streets as a relentless toll of bombings and shootings have become a part of daily life for the city's inhabitants. But the pace of life is now slowing down for Baghdad's hard-working ambulance drivers and medics as the recent lull in violence across the city has meant they are able to enjoy such luxuries as lunch and tea breaks with their colleagues. Ambulance driver Khaled Kamaladdin says he and his colleagues would be called out to the scenes of bombings and shootings several times a day, but now they are much less busy. "Before, we used to go out daily to around five or six blasts, you know, not just by ourselves but in cooperation with other centres. We used to cover events like blasts and clashes but now the situation has changed. The number of blasts and other events are starting to fall," he said. Iraqi and U.S. officials have reported sharp falls in Iraqi and U.S. military casualties in the past two months after a "surge" of 30,000 extra U.S. troops was completed in mid-June. Improving Iraqi security forces and the spread of neighbourhood police units, mainly organised by Sunni Arab tribal sheikhs to drive out al Qaeda fighters, have also made significant contributions to a more stable Iraq, officials say. It all amounts to good news for Baghdad's ambulance drivers, who found no shortage of work during the capital's darkest days. However, even though the number of incidents has fallen, ambulance driver Alaa Nasir says they have not completely stopped. "There wasn't much violence in 2003. The violence started in 2004 to 2005 and increased over the last couple of years. We have noticed recently that the violence has gone down and the number of blasts have also gone down. They haven't stopped, but they have reduced in number," he says. The main emergency ambulance centre in southern Baghdad, known as al-Karkh, controls 16 stations across southern and western Baghdad, each of which has three ambulances. Each ambulance has rotating teams of three drivers and three first aid workers or medics. For Qais Mohammed, the head of emergency services unit of al-Karkh, ambulance drivers have been at great risk of physical injury and psychological trauma because of the perilous nature of their work. He says that many ambulances have been targeted by insurgents and four of his drivers have been killed. "Ambulances have been exposed to terrorist acts and the ambulance workers have also been targeted. We have four workers who have been martyred and three ambulances have been damaged by terrorist events. There were also another two ambulances that were damaged in a double roadside bombing. The last person who was martyred was Mudhaffar Saeed Kadhim," he says. Mohammed says the improved security situation is helping his ambulance crews overcome the psychological impact of the horrors they have witnessed while working on the streets of Baghdad over the last couple of years.

ITN Source | November 28, 2007

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