The week in pictures

From the tenth anniversary of Iraq's invasion to a deadly fire in Thailand, Al Jazeera showcases the week in images.

24 Mar 2013 12:19 GMT

AFP/Getty Images

Relatives visit graves in the Mahdi Army cemetery in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq. The country marked the 10th anniversary of the US-led invasion that ousted former leader Saddam Hussein on Tuesday.

REUTERS

Members of the US Secret Service walk through the ancient city of Petra in Jordan. US President Barack Obama arrived in Jordan on the last leg of a Middle East tour after challenging Israelis to embrace peace with Palestinians.

AFP/Getty Images

Kurdish people celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year festival, in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir. The festival was particularly celebratory this year after jailed Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalancalled for a ceasefire, telling fighters to lay down their arms and raising hopes for an end to a three-decade conflict with Turkey that has cost tens of thousands of lives.

REUTERS

Thousands of bank employees protest outside the finance ministry in Nicosia, Cyprus. President Nicos Anastasiades has met Brussels officials in the hopes of sealing a bailout package from the European Union.

REUTERS

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati speaks during a news conference in Beirut. Mikati announced his resignation after Shia group Hezbollah and its allies blocked the creation of a body to supervise parliamentary elections and opposed extending the term of a senior security official.

REUTERS

Indigenous people attend the first session of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt(***)s trial at the Supreme Court of Justice in Guatemala City. The trial of