Iraqis flee Baghdad as curfew is lifted

BAGHDAD - As three days of round-the-clock curfew ended Monday, the Iraqi capital eased back into a familiar rhythm of death, escape and survival.

Hundreds of Iraqi families made a beeline for the airport, where they handed over their savings for one-way tickets to any place safe. Others ran for the border, with suitcases strapped to cars bound for Syria and Jordan. Families that stayed stocked up on food, kept their children home from school, and waited for another round of sectarian bloodshed.

Violence continued across the country with 91 people killed or found dead.

A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet crashed in the volatile western Anbar province, where it was providing air cover to ground troops. A military statement didn't address the cause of the crash or the fate of the pilot.

Al-Jazeera television aired a brief clip of what it said was the crash site and told viewers it had footage that showed the pilot's body but wouldn't air it. The channel quoted witnesses as saying that insurgents had shot down the warplane. The clip showed the gray wreckage of a jet with a crumpled white parachute nearby.

Except for the road to Baghdad International Airport, where traffic stretched for miles, few cars ventured into the capital's increasingly perilous streets. An unfolding civil war between Sunni Muslims, backed by insurgent groups, and Shiite Muslims, led by militias and their allies in Iraq's security forces, has rendered life virtually untenable for ordinary Iraqis.

The district of Doura, one of the most dangerous in Baghdad, "is very quiet - not because it's peaceful, but because it's almost empty," said Qusai Kadhim, 37, a Shiite who lives there. "My street is the calmest of all because there are only two families left, mine and my neighbor's. I'm just here in my house, my weapon is ready and the only thing I can do is defend my family."