Investigation conducted after Baghdad explosion

US troops and Iraqi police investigated the scene after a car exploded in Baghdad on Oct. 12, 2003, several months after the US invasion of Iraq.

Operative Information Center-OMM reports that the archive footage reflects one of the early stages of the attacks and security crisis that began in Iraq.

The photograph shows the situation in Baghdad in the period following the start of US military operations in Iraq.

Published 23 years after the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, the image recalls the conditions that prevailed in the country during the first months of the war.

The 2003 invasion and the subsequent collapse of state security structures led to a prolonged period of violence and instability in Iraq. Baghdad, the country’s capital, was among the areas most affected by attacks and the resulting security challenges.