Falluja fighting persists in parts, aid convoy rejected

FALLUJA - US warplanes, artillery and mortars struck areas across Falluja on Monday as groups of diehard insurgents held out to the last in the week-long battle.

The US military says it has taken full control of Falluja, but scattered spots of resistance remain, particularly in southern parts. Large areas of the city lie in ruins, devastated by the ferocity of the US military's seven-day onslaught.

A Reuters correspondent who drove from north to south saw bloated and decomposing bodies in the streets, smashed homes, ruined mosques and power and telephone lines hanging uselessly.

Iraq's Red Crescent group has sent seven truck-loads of food and medicine to the city, but the US forces have held up the aid at Falluja's main hospital, on the western outskirts.

A US Marine commander said American forces were working to deliver assistance in the city themselves. Any Iraqis needing help would be told to go to the hospital, he said.

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has said he doesn't believe any civilians were killed in the offensive, which has left 38 US soldiers, 6 Iraqi troops and more than 1,200 insurgents dead. But witness accounts contradicted him.

A member of an Iraqi relief committee told Al Jazeera television he saw 22 bodies buried in rubble of one street in Falluja's northern Jolan district on Sunday.

"Of the 22 bodies, five were found in one house as well as two children whose ages did not exceed 15 and a man with an artificial leg," Mohammed Farhan Awad said.

"Some of the bodies we found had been eaten by stray dogs and cats. It was a very painful sight."

No help has reached civilians in Falluja since the assault began last Monday. Aid agencies have described the situation as as a humanitarian disaster, basing their view on the accounts of refugees who have fled and images broadcast on television.

The Iraqi Red Crescent says it knows of at least 150 families trapped inside Falluja in desperate need of aid. One father of seven contacted by Reuters on Sunday said his children were sick from diarrhoea and had not eaten for days.

But a US Marine commander, Colonel Mike Shupp, said he had not heard of any Iraqi civilians trapped inside.

"There is no need to bring supplies in because we have supplies of our own for the people. Now that the bridge is open, I will bring out casualties and all aid work can be done here," he said from Falluja's hospital.

The convoy was to return to Baghdad on Monday, frustrated.

"It's our third day here at the hospital and all we have done is receive promises from the Americans. It is hopeless to stay any longer. But we will return," said Hassan Rawi, a member of the International Federation of the Red Cross.

In operations in Falluja on Monday, US forces said they had found a fortified bunker with reinforced tunnels leading to stores of weapons, including an anti-aircraft artillery gun.

At least five artillery rounds and air strikes hit sites in the southern portion of the city, where the bunker was found, and soon afterwards exchanges of gunfire and blasts were heard.

At the same time, the US military said it was announcing through loudspeakers and via leaflets that Falluja residents in need of medical or other assistance should contact US troops.

It said "assessment teams" would weigh up Falluja's needs.

More than 10,000 US troops have been involved in the operation to wrest Falluja from an estimated 2,000-3,000 rebels, with the objective of returning the city to Iraqi security control ahead of elections to be held in January.

The Falluja offensive has fuelled violence across Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland, especially in the northern city of Mosul, where gunmen roam some districts following an uprising.

Insurgents overran a police station in Mosul on Sunday and US troops, backed by Iraqi security forces, battled for two hours to retake it, the US military said.

The US general in charge of security there, Brigadier General Carter Ham, said the situation was tense and he expected it to take some time to quell the insurgency. The Iraqi government has sent national guard reinforcements to the city.

There were also heavy clashes between US troops and insurgents in Baquba, about 65 km north of Baghdad on Monday, and US helicopter gunships and tanks battled militants in Baiji, 200 km north of Baghdad, on Sunday.

- REUTERS


Herald Feature: Iraq