By Claudia Parsons BAGHDAD, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Reem, a 28-year-old student in Baghdad, says she used to make fun of her mother for keeping a small pistol, but these days it's no joke. "My mother said 'You're making fun of something that I'll have to use to kill somebody one day,'" Reem said on Sunday, the third day of a curfew that kept 7 million Iraqis locked down to avoid a backlash after car bombs killed 202 people on Thursday. Nerves on edge from the violence and rumours swirling of more attacks, Baghdadis stayed home, some taking steps to guard their neighbourhoods, others simply dealing with the daily struggle of life under a curfew. Reem said she was standing with her mother at the gate of their home when they saw three cars, each carrying four gunmen, cruising round the neighbourhood known as New Baghdad in the east of the capital. They hurried inside. The curfew is supposed to keep cars off the streets and avert violence, but on Friday gunmen attacked homes and mosques in a Sunni neighbourhood and the crash of mortars echoed round the city, some near some distant, throughout Sunday. "On the second day (of the curfew) police came and retrieved the body of a 33-year-old man who was shot in his shop," Reem said. "Everybody in our area has guns at home." Abu Marwah, a 40-year-old translator who lives in the Sunni district of Jamia, said he spent much of Friday night on the roof of his house, part of an informal neighbourhood watch set up by local men to keep watch for militant attacks. "We were in contact with each other, calling each other, asking what's happening close to your house," he said. "Of course we all had our Kalashnikovs." "We heard clashes from time to time, which is something very normal for this time," he added. "It's not safe to be in the street but it's safe to be on the roof, this way you can attack them from above if they come." NO BIRTHDAY GIFTS On Sunday, despite sporadic clashes in his neighbourhood, Abu Marwah celebrated his wife's birthday with his two teenage children. "We managed to get a cake and some candles to celebrate, but this time we did it with no gifts unfortunately." Unable to venture out and with electricity cutting out for much of the day and fuel running low for generators, Baghdad residents faced practical problems as well as fear and boredom. "Nothing is making me happy at the moment," Reem said. "The price of vegetables and fruit has doubled during the curfew." Abu Anmar, a 37-year-old father of five, was following television news closely when electricity allowed, and keeping in touch by mobile phone to exchange the latest news. "After three days of curfew, food started to be our main concern, especially for me as the father of a big family. Bread is the main part of our meals," he said. Um Hani, mother of six-year-old Hani, said she felt "suffocated" after three days cleaning the house and watching television. "My son has been playing football with the soldiers at a checkpoint nearby. I'm very sad about that because I hate when he plays in the street, it makes me worried," she said. One 33-year-old accountant who was forced to quit her job in central Baghdad because it is too dangerous to go to the office, said she was worried about her fiance, a traffic police officer, whom she has not seen for three days because of the curfew. "This curfew does absolutely no good at all," she said. "If anybody wants to take some action against the government, they'll do it anyway once the curfew is lifted." (additional reporting by Aseel Kami and Baghdad staff)
