Tombstones a 'luxury' in war-torn Syria

Aug. 30, 2012, 6:49 AM EDT

By PhotoBlog

A tombstone sculptor works at his workshop in Damascus, Syria on August 28, 2012. In the Sahnaya district of Old Damascus, even tombstones are not easily available for a conflict which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says has killed more than 25,000 people over the past 17 months.Joseph Eid / AFP - Getty Images

In the Sahnaya district of Old Damascus, even tombstones are hard to come by, Agence France Presse reports.

"People are just looking for a hole in a cemetery," says Tareq Samini, 45, carving with his chisel the name of a shaheed (martyr), a young soldier killed in the central city of Homs.

"A tombstone is a luxury that we offer in peacetime, not wartime," says colleague Jihad Jano.

See more images of the Syrian conflict on PhotoBlog.

After months of protests and violent crackdowns, a look back at the violence that has overtaken the country.Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

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