"The situation (at al-Kindi) is chaotic and catastrophic," ICRC

BAGHDAD, April 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A Baghdad hospital visited Friday, April 11, by a team of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was in "catastrophic" state, an ICRC official said.

"The situation is chaotic and catastrophic," ICRC medical coordinator Peter Tarabula told Agence France-Presse (AFP), at Al-Kindi hospital, one of the biggest medical centers in Baghdad.

The hospital was looted after Saddam Hussein's authority crumbled Wednesday, April 9, and U.S. occupation troops rolled into central Baghdad.

It was the first time in several days that the ICRC had inspected a hospital in the occupied Iraqi capital, amid the uncertain security situation in the Iraqi capital.

Twenty-five people were admitted to the hospital Friday after suffering gunshot wounds in clashes during looting in the Iraqi capital, hospital sources also told AFP.

The hospital in the east of the city has been ransacked and all staff have fled with the exception of two doctors who administer first aid but do not carry out operations.

All patients have left the hospital, one of Baghdad's largest, and Shiite fighters from the southern city of Najaf under the leadership of Sheikh Abbas al-Zubaidi have set up camp there.

Shopkeepers Open Fire

Looting and chaos prevailed in Iraq

As the UN accused U.S.-led forces of being “unable” to prevent anarchy and chaos, shopkeepers in central Baghdad opened fire on looters Friday for the first time since U.S. troops entered the city, as the widespread chaos left 25 people injured.

In Al-Rasafi market, merchants fired pistols in the air outside a seven-story garment store, while at Al-Arabi market shopkeepers fired Kalashnikov rifles toward approaching looters.

"We want the law to rule and if the Americans don't defend us then we'll defend ourselves with our own weapons," said merchant Khazen Hussein.

Young people were also seen with iron bars running after potential thieves. Baghdad has seen rampant looting since U.S. troops rolled in Wednesday and the two-and-half-decade authority of Saddam Hussein crumbled.

Almost everything has been considered fair game, from the luxury homes of senior regime figures to European diplomatic missions.

Twenty-five people were admitted to Baghdad's Al-Kindi hospital on Friday after suffering gunshot wounds in clashes during the looting.

But the hospital, Baghdad's largest, can provide little help as it has been looted itself.

All staff have fled Al-Kindi hospital with the exception of two doctors who administer first aid but do not carry out operations. "The doctors have all left," said nurse Jawad al-Jabiri.

Few patients have remained at the hospital since the looting Thursday, in which armed men stole two ambulances and medicine from the facility.

U.S. troops called to assist them replied that they had no orders to intervene and medical staff said they were powerless to stop the thieves.

Kirkuk In Chaos

Meanwhile, the situation in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, captured by Kurdish and U.S. forces Thursday, is spiraling out of the control of local Kurdish chiefs, and several people have been killed, the city's Kurdish governor, Rizgarali Hamgam, told AFP.

Pillaging and score-settling had begun after the fall of the city and carried on through the night, Hamgam said Friday, adding that a number of people were killed or wounded. He did not give details.

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Mass graves inside Baghdad hospitals