Photos: Charcoal workers in a quiet Kurdish village carry on as war unfolds

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Zana, 22, poses for a photo after loading a vehicle with sacks of charcoal at a traditional production site in Sarkand, Iraq, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Workers prepare charcoal at a traditional production site in Sarkand, Iraq, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) — Zana, 22, poses for a photo after loading a vehicle with sacks of charcoal at a traditional production site in Sarkand, Iraq, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Audio By Carbonatix

4:53 PM on Thursday, March 12

By LEO CORREA

SARKAND, Iraq (AP) —

As war rages in Iran, life goes on across the border in the Kurdistan region of northeastern Iraq. In the quiet mountainous village of Sarkand, Kurdish workers produce charcoal along a river that winds past small rural communities.

Men stack hardwood and seal it inside earthen pits to slowly burn into charcoal. Using shovels, they turn the dark soil around the pits as smoke escapes through small vents.

During breaks, some workers pause to pray as they observe the fast during the holy month of Ramadan. One man kneels in prayer on a rock in the river, while another prays beside a vehicle recently loaded with sacks of charcoal after washing his feet, face and hands.

Among the workers is Zana, a 22-year-old student from Koya University who smiles and asks to pose for a photograph. Schools in the Kurdistan region have been closed since the start of the war between the United States, Israel and Iran.

“I’m afraid of the rockets and drones, but I need to work,” he says. “From Brazil to anywhere in the world, whether in the U.S. or here, war is not good for anyone.”

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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.