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US troops 'preventing aid supply' to Falluja

Saturday 13 November 2004, 23:06 Makka Time, 20:06 GMT

Iraqi Red Crescent: The wounded are unable to reach hospitals

US troops are preventing a Red Crescent convoy of emergency aid from reaching helpless residents inside Falluja, a spokeswoman said.

Hopes were raised that the military would make an exception to a no-entry rule when the trucks were allowed as far as the Falluja general hospital, which was seized ahead of a US-Iraqi assault to gain control of the city, the spokeswoman said on Saturday.

But wounded residents inside the war zone were unable to enter the hospital, on the western outskirts, while US forces forbade the aid convoy from reaching them, Red Crescent spokeswoman Firdus al-Abadi told AFP.

Access denied

"They are in the general hospital, but until now the Americans will not let them distribute medical supplies in the city," al Abadi said, referring to the team of some 50 volunteers and three doctors that has travelled from Baghdad to Falluja.

Many families have fled from the
war-torn town to nearby villages

Doctor Jamal al-Karbuli, the secretary-general of the Iraqi Red Crescent, "is negotiating with the Americans to let them distribute the supplies to the people", al-Abadi told AFP.

"Jamal is insisting, at least, to have permission to get the injured people out of Falluja and into the hospital."

Civilians hiding in the city, where US and Iraqi troops have clashed with the resistance since Monday, are dying of starvation and thirst and something must be done to help them, al-Abadi said.

"They need us. It is our duty as a humanitarian agency to do our job for these people in these circumstances," she said.

The Iraqi government, for its part, said it was evacuating
wounded civilians out of Falluja and that the main hospital would soon be operational again.

A US military spokesman said Falluja was too risky for the aid workers.

"We have to take into consideration safety and security," he said.

Refugee town struck

Late on Saturday, Aljazeera reported that the town of Amiriyat al-Falluja - hosting some 4000 families fleeing the fighting in Falluja - was struck by a US aerial assault, which killed five people and injured four others.

Earlier, the Red Crescent society had dispatched a convoy of four relief trucks and an ambulance to Amiriyat al-Falluja and a tourist village in Habbaniya - where an additional 1500 refugees are camped.

Refugees badly need water and
food supplies, aid workers said

The Red Crescent believes that only 150 families are still in the heart of Falluja, but it is also equally concerned about the
plight of tens of thousands of people living in refugee camps and villages dotted outside.

"They are dying of starvation and a lack of water, especially
the children," the Red Crescent spokeswoman said.

"If there is no solution to this crisis it will expand to other cities and other parts of Iraq and there will be a great disaster here," al-Abadi said.

An AFP correspondent in Falluja said he had seen a number of
families emerge from the devastation. One group among them
complained on Friday of severe thirst and hunger. Another was on the edge of despair.

Decaying bodies

A local journalist in Falluja, Haza al-Afify, told Aljazeera that there were many civilan casualties.

"The humanitarian situation is miserable. The US forces have cut the electricity power supply. Water-pumping operations have now stopped for good. Water pipes carry polluted water supply. There is a severe shortage of foodstuff and food supplies," he said.

"There are scores of families burried under the rubble of destroyed homes. Others have bled to death. There is a stench from every street due to decaying bodies."