Carnage In Falluja
By Aljazeera
10 November, 2004
Aljazeera
Muhammad
Abbud said he watched his nine-year-old son bleed to death at their
Falluja home, unable to take him to hospital as fighting raged in the
streets and bombs rained down on the Iraqi city.
In the midst of a US onslaught and hemmed in by a round-the-clock curfew,
he said he had little choice but to bury his eldest son, Ghaith, in
the garden.
"My son got
shrapnel in his stomach when our house was hit at dawn, but we couldn't
take him for treatment," said Abbud, a teacher. "We buried
him in the garden because it was too dangerous to go out. We did not
know how long the fighting would last."
Residents say scores
of civilians have been killed or wounded in 24 hours of fighting since
US-led forces pushed deep into the city on Monday evening.
Doctors said people
brought in at least 15 dead civilians at the main clinic in Falluja
on Monday. By Tuesday, there were no clinics open, residents said, and
no way to count casualties.
US and Iraqi forces
seized control of the city's main hospital, across the Euphrates river
from Falluja proper, hours before the onslaught began.
Overnight US bombardments hit a clinic inside the Sunni Muslim city,
killing doctors, nurses and patients, residents said. US military authorities
denied the reports.
Interim Iraqi Prime
Minister Iyad Allawi said troops detained 38 fighters entrenched at
Falluja hospital and accused doctors there of exaggerating civilian
casualties.
Sami al-Jumaili,
a doctor at Falluja hospital, said the city was running out of medical
supplies.
"There is not
a single surgeon in Falluja. We had one ambulance hit by US fire and
a doctor wounded. There are scores of injured civilians in their homes
who we can't move," he said by telephone from a house where he
had gone to help the wounded.
"A 13-year-old
child just died in my hands."
The International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday that it was extremely
worried about the fate of people wounded in the battle for control of
the Iraqi city of Falluja.
"The ICRC
urges the belligerents to ensure that all those in need of such care
- whether friend or foe - be given access to medical facilities and
that medical personnel and vehicles can function without hindrance at
all times," a statement said.
The organisation
said it was "deeply concerned about reports that the injured cannot
receive adequate medical care".
Weekend air raids
destroyed a clinic funded by an Islamic relief organisation in the centre
of Falluja and a nearby warehouse used to store medical supplies, witnesses
said.
Many families fled the city of 300,000 long before the offensive began.
An official from a Sunni Muslim group with links to some fighters in
Falluja said on Monday only about 60,000 people remained.
Residents say they
have no power and are using kerosene lamps at night. They say they keep
to ground floors for safety. Food shops have been closed for six days.
"My kids are
hysterical with fear," said Farhan Salih. "They are traumatised
by the sound but there is nowhere to take them."
US Defence Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld said on Monday he did not foresee large numbers of civilian
casualties in the assault, saying US forces were disciplined and precise.
Those words were
of little comfort to the Abbud family, sitting in a house damaged by
the bomb that killed their child.
"We just bandaged
his stomach and gave him water, but he was losing a lot of blood. He
died this afternoon," said Abbud.