But it is one still unsettled by the Sadrists' time in power, when militias dominated local security and bombings and attacks against American forces were common.
Still, some locals reckon the bombings were an attempt by Syrian opposition fighters to get the Turkish government to intervene on their side.
Israeli officials said that Israeli forensic teams were in New Delhi and Tbilisi, Georgia, helping the local authorities investigate the bombings, a standard practice whenever Israelis are the targets of attacks abroad.
There were many other reports from witnesses and local reporters of suicide bombings aimed at police officers and of a gun battle that lasted nearly five hours.
A series of bombings at local bars, none regular tourist haunts, has tarnished the island's image as a tranquil vacation spot where the loudest sound one can expect to hear is ocean waves crashing against the pristine shore.
That such a mixed, multicultural neighbourhood, in one of northern England's most prosperous cities, should have produced such murderers is still a shock to local people.But the bombings should have been more than shocking: they were supposed to have been a wake-up call.
Later Saturday, in the nearby district of Kohat, a bomb hidden in a handcart killed seven people, among them police officers, Officer Naeem Khan told The A.P. No militant group claimed responsibility for the bombings, but local officials said they suspected the involvement of Lashkar-i-Islam.
Two prominent human rights workers, one of them a lawyer, were arrested this week in Uganda as part of a US-sponsored local 'security response' to bombings in Kampala over the summer.
Maiduguri has been on edge since the last round of bombings, with locals fearing further bloodshed.
Something for everyone saw booze and fuel spared, flood defences, cathedrals, Shakespeare and the homeless remembered, with a bonanza for well-off ISA savers, a tampon tax spent on women, hurrah for a sugar tax for school sport, a love song to the local – and a love-bombing of small business, at most risk of Ukip sentiment.
