By Aws al-Sharqi, IOL Iraq Correspondent

BAGHDAD, May 8 (IslamOnline.net) - Homeless Iraqi families annexed Iraqi government buildings, including prisons and military camps, and reshaped them into residential areas after the U.S.-led air strikes had razed their houses to the ground.

Al-Rasheed military camp is now rife with signs reading: “family apartment” and “please, do not disturb.”

Families shunned reporters and declined to give any comments, however, Mortada al-Rabei and his family told IslamOnline.net correspondent they had to reside in the onetime camp because they could not afford renting a flat in Baghdad as prices skyrocketed after the end of the U.S.-led war on Iraq.

“Getting a job under such hard times is a far-fetched dream…We cannot afford flat rentals, so we have settled here until life is back to normal in Iraq,” Rabei said.

Abu Gharb military camp has completely changed into a residential area with “family apartment” emblazoned on every door.

Likewise, children were playing football in the lawn of Baghdad University Agriculture College’s Ibn Rushd chemical laboratory, while their families appeared to take fixed abode in the lab’s premises.

“There are some 27 families residing here…we have not anyplace to go,” some children told IOL.

“The U.S.-led air strikes left many Iraqi families homeless,” said 14-year-old Abdul Latif.

‘Residential Prisons’

Abu Gharib prison has also become nothing but a residential area where one can find groceries, cigarette kiosks and bus stations to transport the families from the “prison” to Baghdad.

Each family lives in a three meters width and four length shabby cell smelling awful garbage while health care services were something of a luxury.

“The Imam of the mosque allowed us to live here because we do not have a house…We refused to annex a house of a former Iraqi official,” Umm Rabie, a tailor, told IOL correspondent.