Hidden tragedies in helpless city

"We buried him in the garden because it was too dangerous to go out."

Residents say scores of civilians have been killed or wounded in 24 hours of fighting since US-led forces pushed deep into the rebel-held city on Monday.

Doctors saw at least 15 dead civilians at the main clinic in Falluja on Monday. By yesterday, there were no clinics open 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.

US bombardments hit a clinic inside the Sunni Muslim city, killing staff and patients, residents said. US military officials denied the claims.

When US forces stormed Falluja in April, they pulled out several weeks later partly as a result of widespread outrage at civilian casualties.

Sami al-Jumaili, a doctor at Falluja hospital, said the city was running out of medical supplies.

There were "scores of injured civilians" and no surgeons, 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," he said.

Weekend air raids destroyed a clinic funded by an Islamic relief organisation in the centre of Falluja, witnesses said.

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