Fallujah: ‘It’s Like Hell’

Hopes were raised that the military would make an exception to a no-entry rule when the trucks were allowed as far as the Fallujah General Hospital, which was seized ahead of a US-Iraqi assault to gain control of the city.

But wounded residents inside the battle zone were unable to enter the hospital, on the western outskirts, while US forces were forbidding the aid convoy from reaching them, Red Crescent spokeswoman Ferdoos Al-Abadi said.

The US military was not immediately available for comment, but had said earlier that Fallujah was too dangerous to allow people access.

“They are in the general hospital, but until now the Americans will not let them distribute medical supplies in the city,” Abadi said, about a team of some 50 volunteers and three doctors who had traveled from Baghdad to Fallujah.

Dr. Jamal Al-Karboulie, the secretary-general of the Iraqi Red Crescent, “is negotiating with the Americans to let them distribute the supplies to the people,” she said.

It is not clear how many of Fallujah’s estimated300 , 000people remain in the city and there has been no firm word on civilian casualties. More than half the population is believed to have fled before the ground assault began.

“Conditions in Fallujah are catastrophic,” Abadi said.

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

The Red Crescent believes that 150 families are still in the heart of Fallujah.

US and Iraqi forces launched a major attack on insurgents holding out in southern Fallujah as Iraqi officials claimed killing about1 , 000rebels and capturing 200 in the weeklong offensive to retake the town.

The town appeared engulfed in thick, black smoke as the latest US attack began at midday amid the crackle of machine guns and the flashes of fire from muzzles of American tanks arrayed around the city’s southern rim. A single minaret stood out against the blackened southern skyline.

“We are just pushing them against the anvil,” said Col. Michael Formica, commander of the1 st Cavalry Division’s2 nd Brigade. “It’s a broad attack against the entire southern front.”

As the US Army and Marines attacked inside Fallujah from the north, the Marines’2 nd Reconnaissance Battalion blocked insurgents from fleeing. US officials estimate there are about1 ,000-2, 000insurgents in the towns and villages around Fallujah who were not trapped inside the city during the US-Iraqi siege, which began Monday.

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