Abbas Iz Ed-Deen's sister, Inam, said that last week her brother started complaining of acute abdominal pain and was taken to the hospital. An x-ray immediately uncovered the problem.
"We were all surprised where all our brother's lighters had gone," Inam said. "The least we expected was that he was hiding them in his stomach."
After surgery to remove the foreign objects, Iz Ed-Deen was put under the care of psychiatrists who diagnosed him as suffering with a psychological disorder.
Iz Ed-Deen's problems began following the 1991 Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm) in 1991, where he fought at the Iraqi front. Upon returning home after the war, his friends and family said his behavior changed and he became a recluse isolating himself at home.
"A large number of Iraqi war veterans suffer various types of psychiatric disorders, many of whom commit suicide," Muzaffar Ahmed, a member of an Iraqi organization for the disabled, told RIA Novosti.
The numerous wars involving Iraq since 1980 have left large sections of the population in the oil-rich country suffering from psychiatric problems and disabilities. Exact numbers are unknown, although according to Iraqi community organizations there are some 1.5 million physically disabled people in Iraq.
Beginning in 1980, Iraq fought an eight year war with neighboring Iran, where according to some estimates up to 500,000 Iraqis died. In August 1990, Iraq then invaded Kuwait, which led to the first Gulf War in 1991 involving an international coalition.
The Middle Eastern country then came under economic blockades and regular airstrikes up to 2003, when the second Gulf War started to topple Saddam Hussein's rule.
