Iraqis displaced from Mosul marry in refugee camp
A bleak refugee camp in northern Iraq saw a rare outpouring of joy on Thursday as Hussein Danoon and Shahad Abed celebrated their wedding less than a month after fleeing the fighting in Mosul.
Before their wedding, the 25-year-old Danoon and his 16-year-old bride were taken to a beauty salon outside the camp and dressed in Kurdish clothes. The two are Arabs, but the camp management said the clothing symbolized coexistence.
The legal age for marriage in Iraq is 18, or 15 with parental permission.
It was only the second wedding held in the camp, where tens of thousands of people live in rows of tents. Iraqi forces have been battling Islamic State militants in and around nearby Mosul, the country's second largest city, since October.
The U.N. says some 160,000 people have been displaced by the Mosul operation. Iraqi forces declared the eastern half of the city "fully liberated" last month, but the militants still hold the entire city west of the Tigris River, and have carried out scattered attacks in the east. IS seized Mosul in the summer of 2014 when the extremists swept across much of northern Iraq.
Here is a series of photos by Bram Janssen from the wedding.
Hussein Zeino Danoon and Shahad Ahmed Abed arrive at the Khazer camp for people displaced from Mosul for their wedding on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. It's the second marriage to take place in the IDP camps east of the city where tens of thousands are living, having fled the fighting in Mosul. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Hussein Zeino Danoon, 25, gets dressed in Kurdish traditional clothing for his wedding on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. He married 16-year-old Shahad Ahmed Abed in the Khazer camp for displaced people from Mosul. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Displaced people from Mosul take photographs of a newlywed couple in the Khazer camp on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. It's the second marriage to take place in the IDP camps east of the city where tens of thousands are living, having fled the fighting in Mosul. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Shahad Ahmed Abed gets inside a car before driving to the Khazer camp for displaced people from Mosul where she was married on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. Abed and her 25-year-old husband Hussein Zeino Danoon fled from Mosul within the last month, just as Iraqi forces pushed Islamic State militants out of the eastern side of the city. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Shahad Ahmed Abed gets her hair done in a salon in Khazer for her wedding on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. Abed and her husband Hussein Zeino Danoon both fled from Mosul within the last month, just as Iraqi forces pushed Islamic State militants out of the eastern side of the city. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Hussein Zeino Danoon and Shahad Ahmed Abed sit inside a car before driving from the hair salon to the Khazer camp for their wedding near Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. A bleak refugee camp in northern Iraq saw a rare outpouring of joy as the two celebrated their wedding less than a month after fleeing the fighting in Mosul. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Displaced people from Mosul dance on traditional Kurdish music in the Khazer camp during a wedding on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. It's the second marriage to take place in the IDP camps east of the city where tens of thousands are living, having fled the fighting in Mosul. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Hussein Zeino Danoon and Shahad Ahmed Abed are celebrated at their wedding in the Khazer camp for displaced people from Mosul, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. The wedding, organized and financed by the camp management, is the second marriage to take place in the IDP camps east of the city where tens of thousands are living, having fled the fighting in Mosul. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Shahad Ahmed Abed, 16, gets her hair done in a hair salon in Khazer for the wedding on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. Abed and her husband Hussein Zeino Danoon both fled from Mosul within the last month, just as Iraqi forces pushed Islamic State militants out of the eastern side of the city. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Hussein Zeino Danoon and Shahad Ahmed Abed sit inside the car after marrying in the Khazer camp for displaced people from Mosul, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017. It's the second marriage to take place in the IDP camps east of the city where tens of thousands are living, having fled the fighting in Mosul. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Text from the AP news story, AP PHOTOS: Iraqis displaced from Mosul marry in refugee camp by Bram Janssen.
Photos by Bram Janssen
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