Sunni worshippers listen to a sermon during `Eid prayers at Umm al-Qura mosque in Baghdad. (Reuters)

BAGHDAD — For millions of Iraqis the three-day `Eid Al-Fitr, which they used to celebrate with family reunions, the exchange of presents and visits to amusement parks, has lost all its joy and glamour.

"This `Eid is marred by despair," Ali Ahmed, an Arabic teacher, told the London-based Al-Quds Press news agency in a voice filled with grief.

"Every `Eid we expect things to improve but they just keep going from bad to worse."

Unabating violence and bloodshed set the tone for `Eid Al-Fitr with mortar and bomb attacks on bustling Baghdad markets on Sunday, October 22.

The attacks claimed the lives of at least nine and wounded scores who were buying sweets, pastries and new clothes.

"There is no `Eid," laments Salah Shaker, a resident of Baghdad's Al-Amiryah district.

"Nothing is real. We even fake laughs to mask our fears of the future," he said in a somber tone.

Iraqi Sunnis and Kurds are celebrating `Eid Al-Fitr, the feast that marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, on Monday, October 23.

Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr declared Tuesday as the first day of `Eid while Iraq's most revered Shiite scholar, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, ordered his followers to sight Shawwal crescent Monday evening.

`Eid At home

Muslims start the day with special prayers shortly after dawn, often in large open areas, and spend the `Eid visiting family and friends.

Traditionally, everyone wears new clothes for `Eid, one of the two most important Islamic celebrations together with `Eid Al-Adha.

But in a country torn apart by war and sectarian violence, many are celebrating `Eid at home.

"It is risky and life-threatening to step out of that door," said Ahlam Khalid, a mother of three.

"We decided to celebrate `Eid by watching television at home," she said with a heavy heart.

Fearing militias and death squads, Khalid would not be able to visit her family this `Eid.

"Since my husband is Sunni we dare not go to el-Shaab area where my mother lives and where Mahdi Army militias have sway."

In recent months black-clad fighters claiming allegiance to the Mahdi Army have been accused of running sectarian death squads.

US commanders now cite Shiite militias as the biggest single threat to the stability of Iraq.

United Nations and Iraq medical sources estimate that more than a 100 people die daily in sectarian violence across the country.

The International Organization for Migration has said that the number of Iraqis fleeing their homes to escape sectarian strife is rising dramatically, and has now reached almost 9,000 per week.

True Eid

Iraqis visited love-ones who lost their lives to the US-led occupation and the spiraling sectarian violence. (Reuters)

Many Iraqis will be celebrating `Eid in the 40 detention camps across the Arab country.

Scores of parents, wives and children have flocked to detention centers, with the hope of seeing their relatives for few minutes.

Others went to cemeteries, shedding tears on thousands of love-ones who lost their lives to the US-led occupation and the spiraling sectarian violence.

"I have in my school 55 students who lost their parents this year to American and militias attacks," said Fardous Naguib, a primary school teacher.

"What `Eid will they celebrate?" she asked.

"The true `Eid is postponed until further notice. For now, each day we do not lose a relative or a friend is `Eid."

For many Iraqis, the true `Eid will be the day they win their country back and occupation forces pack and leave.

"True `Eid will not come until the last American soldier is out of Iraq," said Hussein al-Daieni, who works for the Ministry of Electricity.