Fallujah doctors struggle to cope with a flood of casualties

CAIRO, September 18 (IslamOnline.net.net & News Agencies) - The United States has come under stinging criticism from ordinary Iraqis and international human rights groups for killing dozens of civilians in a number of deadly consecutive air strikes into the war-battered city of Fallujah.

“Amnesty International is calling for an inquiry into recent attacks in which civilians were killed in Iraq in circumstances which may have violated international law,” the London-based group said in a press release on its website on Friday, September 17.

The US aerial strikes against Fallujah – populated by 300,000 people – left more than 60 people dead, mostly women and children, in a fresh massive onslaught that started late Thursday, September 16, and stretched into Friday.

At least 56 Iraqis, including women and children, were killed in Thursday night attacks into the restive city.

As night fell on Friday, a US jet carried out another strike on the city, firing a missile at a house in the central Dhubat neighborhood. At least three bodies of women and children were visible at the scene.

The Iraqi Health Ministry, however, put at 44 the number of people killed in the deadly air strikes often described by the US military as “precision attacks”.

Targeting Civilians

The US military claims that all targets of the raids were hideouts of Abu Musaab Al-Zarqawi, an alleged Al-Qaeda operative.

But TV screens showed women and children crying of bleeding wounds.

“All of the victims of the US shelling were women and children,” the Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) said in a statement carried by Al-Jazeera.

The highest Sunni authority in Iraq also called for an international intervention to put an end to the US practices.

Mahmmoud Sheil, 50, a tribesman in Fallujah, likened the killings from the US airs strikes to the slaughter of civilians under the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein.

“They [the Americans] say that Saddam is the man of mass graves, but they are the ones responsible for these mass graves,” he told the Associated Press.

Sunni leader Sheikh Abdelghafur Al-Samarrai lashed out at the US military for the bombings.

“If you have intelligence on the location of Zarqawi and his elements why don't you surround and capture them?” He asked during his weekly sermon in Baghdad.

Iraqi fighters in Fallujah denied in June 25, the presence of Al-Zarqawi in their town, adding they were simply defending their homeland against occupation forces.

On September 9, press reports and medical sources said that women and children were among 12 people killed in an also overnight US missile strike on Fallujah.

Although the US at the time claimed the deaths were all members of Zarqawi’s group, TV screens splashed out footages of women and children pulled out from rubble.

At least 700 Iraqis, mostly women and children, were killed and 1,500 others injured when the US occupation forces imposed a tight siege on the town and intensified air strikes on its densely-populated areas in April.

Inquiry 

The US onslaughts have wounded many children in Fallujah (AFP)

The US strikes on Fallujah also drew flack from Amnesty International human rights group, which called for an inquiry into the killing of civilians in Iraq by American forces.

Amnesty said in a press release published Friday the circumstances in which the victims had fallen may have violated international law.

“There are worrying reports about the mounting casualties amongst civilians who find themselves caught in the battle between American troops and insurgents,” said Abdel Salam Sidahmed, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program in Amnesty International.

“It is time to ask questions about whether these casualties could have been avoided, and whether needless deaths could be prevented in the future.”

Citing the latest attacks, the rights watchdog also referred to the September 12 offensive, which killed thirteen civilians, including a young girl and a television cameraman working with Al-Arabiya television.

“Multinational troops must take necessary precautions to protect civilians, and respect the principles of necessity and proportionality,” said Abdel Salam Sidahmed.

“Amnesty International is seeking clarification of the measures multinational forces are taking to ensure that they comply fully with their obligations under international law.”

Sidahmed said the international or national standards which they must observe “to take all necessary measures to contribute to the maintenance of security and stability in Iraq ” remain unclear.

Blood seeped through the blankets and sheets wrapping the corpses, which were lowered into the graves in groups of four.

Blood covered the floors of Fallujah general hospital as doctors struggled to cope with a flood of casualties, many brought to the hospital in private cars.

Relatives pounded their chests in grief and shouted anti-US slogans desperately.

Religious leaders switched on loudspeakers at the Fallujah mosque, calling on residents to donate blood, chanting: “God is Great.”