The political and economic importance of the market also means it has been the target of armed attacks and bombings since 2003. The latest attack on the market came Feb. 7, when a suicide bomber blew himself up in Souk al-Arabi in Shorja, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries. Another bombing a year earlier on Feb. 13, 2014, took the lives of six people.
Brig. Gen. Salah Hassan told Al-Monitor, “Being the economic generator of Iraq, Shorja market was the most targeted by bombings since 2003.”
In one section of the market, at the entrance off al-Jumhuriya Street, Al-Monitor met with Hamid Alwan, who sells books and stationery. He said, “The conversations between the market visitors, traders, passers-by and consumers paint a clear picture of the political situation in Iraq and reflect the extent of people's satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the situation.”
Writer-journalist Qasim Mozan told Al-Monitor, “Shorja market is not only a commercial hub but an economic power influencing political and economic decisions.”
Mozan believes that the people who brought down the government of former Prime Minister Abdul Karim Kassem were the merchants of Shorja market, who opposed his favoring of the poor and supported the forces that overthrew him. He added, “The Baath Party that took power in Iraq on July 17, 1968, realized the importance of Shorja market as an economic and political power. This regime assassinated merchants opposing its policies. In the 1950s, the Jews, representing the nerve of economic activities in the market, were forced out.”
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