Baghdad, Iraq ? Excluding the Iraqi capital’s nearly daily bombings, new Iraqi government documents show that more Baghdad residents died in shootings, stabbings and other violence in May than in any other month since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The numbers and accounts from residents depict neighborhoods descending further into violence and fear.

Last month, 1,398 bodies were brought to the central morgue, according to Ministry of Health statistics, 243 more than April. The count doesn’t include soldiers or civilian victims of explosions, on whom autopsies are not usually conducted.

Since 2003, at least 30,240 bodies have been brought to the morgue, the vast majority of them shot by gunmen who are seldom caught or prosecuted. Bodies often lie unclaimed in the streets for hours.

In response, Iraqis are closing their shops, drawing their blinds and staying home, turning once-vibrant neighborhoods into ghost town.

Residents in some areas fear death squads and Shiite-dominated security forces. In other parts of town, they worry about religious extremists who have threatened to kill men who wear shorts and women who drive or leave their hair uncovered. “I feel like I’m living in a prison,” said Sahar Mohammed, a 24-year-old Sunni Arab from western Baghdad who recently put her car in the garage and exchanged trousers for more conservative skirts.