BAGHDAD (AFP) — Jasim Mohammed Saleh, standing amid a clutter of cheap kitchenware scattered across his roadside stall in Al-Shaab, Baghdad's northeastern mixed Sunni-Shiite neighbourhood, is having a good day.
The sun is shining, the shoppers are out and the violence which once ripped at the heart of the community is all but ended.
The souk today is crowded, mainly with women wearing black all-covering abayas, many of whom are stopping to rummage through his vast array of goods.
"People can now shop without fear," says the 28-year-old trader happily from behind wrap-around sunglasses that reflect the jostling shoppers at his pavement stall.
"Business is brisk," he adds, as he presses a thousand dinar note (about a dollar) in change into the black-gloved hand of a middle-aged woman buying a set of blue-rimmed mugs.
"We wouldn't have been able to do this a year ago -- there were too many car bombs," says Saleh, bundled up in a black jacket.
Despite the sunshine, a chilly wind is whipping through the market, scattering garbage and causing a violent flapping of the thousands of black and green flags hoisted by Shiites to honour Imam Hussein.
Just months ago, the neighbourhood was one of Baghdad's most notorious no-go zones, riven by sectarian violence and a bloody turf war between rival Shiite militias -- the Mahdi Army of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the Badr Brigade allied to the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC).
Car bombs, death squad killings and kidnappings were the norm rather than the exception.
Most of the shops in the souk were closed, three doctors from a medical centre at the far end of the market were abducted and never heard of again and many residents stayed indoors, fearing to walk in the streets.
From mid-year the tide began to turn and by September stores were reopening and shoppers were returning.
Today the market is jostling with life, its longs rows of undercover shops sell anything from fancy suits and dresses to toys, books, hardware and appliances. Lively music booms out from speakers.
Saleh attributes the turnaround to a variety of factors -- better protection from the army who have taken over checkpoints from police, the order that went out in August by Sadr to the Mahdi Army to lay down their arms, and the formation of an "Awakening" anti-Qaeda front in Al-Shaab.
"A significant factor has also been the decision to seal off the road to traffic so that no car bombs can target the souk," says Saleh above the roar of a massive generator that powers the shops and businesses in the area.
Almost five years after the US invasion, residents of Shaab still have less electricity than they did during the days of Saddam Hussein.
Amer Salem al-Salami, a municipal official, says that although the neighbourhood is 75 percent Shiite, Sunnis were not specifically targeted in the violence -- unlike in nearby Al-Qahira neighbourhood where Sunnis were put to flight by the Mahdi Army.
"We live together here. In my street of 12 houses, seven are Sunni and five are Shiite," he says.
Salami, too, credits the drop in violence to better security from the army as well as the creation of an Awakening group -- volunteers paid 30 dollars a day by the US military to patrol streets and control checkpoints.
The scheme, which has been credited with helping bring about a 62 percent reduction in the number of attacks across Iraq since June, initially was cause for more friction in Al-Shaab, says Salami.
"The Mahdi Army had some problems with the Awakening and there were some clashes," he says. "These problems have now been solved and they are now working together."
Naser Aneed Mansour, who runs a denim store in the heart of the souk, is also pleased with the increase in trade, which he says peaked around Eid.
"The most important thing is that peace has returned. My customers are a mix of Shiites and Sunnis. We are all living together and shopping together."
Out in the street, a little boy in red tracksuit and dark jacket skips happily next to his mother and brother.
He climbs on to a small wall and begins tight-rope walking. His mother doesn't even glance backwards. Today, at least, there is little danger of losing a loved one to a car bomb.
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