‘Because of this wall ... this wall of misery, we are living in a prison ... like in a ghetto,’ said Abu Ali, 50, who last week reopened his shop in the area which was closed for two months due to heavy fighting in Sadr City.

US and Iraqi troops battled militiamen from radical Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr's Mahdi Army for nearly two months from March 25, resulting in hundreds of people being killed or wounded.

The firefights erupted after US forces began erecting a wall in the southern section of the district to prevent militiamen from firing rockets from there towards the heavily fortified Green Zone which houses the US embassy and Iraqi government.

The fighting ended after a ceasefire between Sadr's group and the Iraqi government on May 10.

But the concrete wall, which these days is getting a splash of blue colour, has left local residents unhappy and boxed in their neighbourhoods.

‘Calm has returned to the area but life has become harder,’ Ali told an AFP correspondent who toured the district.

‘We are losing three to four hours daily just getting in and out of the area,’ he said, indicating the delays caused by traffic jams at checkpoints.

Lack of transport was also making it difficult to residents who often ended up walking long distances, he said.

‘Even ambulances are unable to come to this part of Sadr City. What do we do with our patients?,’ Ali asked.

The US troops have largely quit the area now, leaving behind only Iraqi soldiers.

The military's presence is concentrated on two entrances of the district -- an intersection called ‘Crossroad 55’ and a checkpoint that was set up on Monday.

Residents said the tense situation led to regular fights between Iraqi soldiers and civilians.

On Tuesday, a civilian was punched by a soldier, splitting his lip open, forcing other soldiers to intervene even as nearby women and children watched.

But the wall has created new employment opportunities for a few.

Several men were seen ferrying women and children in carts pulled by motorcycles for just a few cents, something that was unseen a few weeks back.

A number of vendors were also selling vegetables along the wall. But they complained it cuts them off from most consumers.

‘The wall prevents us from working. We feel stifled,’ complained Um Riyadh, who like most vendors blames the deteriorating conditions on the American army.

Many also continue to fear the still powerful Mahdi Army militia.

‘We can do nothing against the Shia militiamen, they are armed,’ a resigned Bassam Abu Karar, an official of the Ministry of Electricity, told AFP.

‘Some militiamen came to our streets and used it to fire mortar rounds. But the US military should not make us the target,’ he said, referring to the erection of the wall.

During the peak of the fighting, he said he was barricaded for eight days in a small room with 18 people, including his children and three other families.

‘We did not step out. We had no water or electricity,’ he said, adding that the situation was particularly scary one night.

A mortar shell fired by an Iraqi soldier struck the room adjacent to his, turning it to rubble.

He said his wife and their children were still afraid to stay in the neighbourhood.

Karar's neighbour Rahima Um Ahmed's house was also set ablaze in the fighting, the smell of burnt wood lingering on the smoke-blackened walls.

‘We fled to Amara (in southern Iraq)’ to avoid the fighting, she said.

‘But we had to return. We can't leave Sadr City. We can't afford’ to stay elsewhere. -AFP