Zdjecie: http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2007/WORLD/meast/08/22/iraq.boy/art.youssif.split.jpg

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Five-year-old Youssif is scarred for life, his
once beautiful smile turned into a grotesquely disfigured face -- the
face of a horrifying act by masked men. They grabbed him on a January
day outside his central Baghdad home, doused him with gas and set him
ablaze.

It's an act incomprehensibly savage, even by Iraq's standards today.
No one has been arrested and the motive remains unknown.

In a war-ravaged city torn by sectarian violence and marked by acts of
vengeance, this attack's apparent randomness stands out as an example
of what life has become in a place where brutality -- even against
young children -- is a constant.

"They dumped gasoline, burned me, and ran," Youssif told CNN, pointing
down the street with his scarred hands where his attackers fled.

As he sucked his thumb, he repeated, "I was burning." He tried to put
the flames out himself.