Aid convoy still barred from 'starving' Falluja

The trucks laden with food, water and medical supplies will travel instead to villages around Falluja where tens of thousands of people have set up camp after fleeing the massive week-old offensive spearheaded by US marines, said Firdaus al-Ubadi.

Relief agencies are trying to get food, water and medicine to hundreds of families they say are trapped inside Falluja.

The military said it was announcing over loudspeakers in the city that civilians needing medical or other help should seek out US forces.

The International Red Cross said it was striving to gain access.

"The IRC is making contacts with all the parties involved, the multi-national forces, the Iraqi forces and all other parties in order to remind them of their international obligations as stated by the international humanitarian law," said Rana Saidany.

These obligations include the need for treating the wounded, evacuating them from the battle zone along with facilitating the tasks of medical teams and securing the safety of the civilian population."

Saidany added: "It is unacceptable in the 21st century to abandon the wounded stranded on the streets and bleeding to death while preventing medical teams from treating them."

Food shortage

Some families have been without water, food and electricity for five days, according to a spokesman for the Shura Council of the Falluja Mujahidin. Abu Saad al-Dulaimi said US forces were restricting the relief groups to one area.

"We plead to the conscience of the Islamic world for help," he said.

"There are massacres in Falluja, there are assassinations, only because the city's people are protecting their honour and dignity."

Asma Khamis al-Muhannadi, an assistant doctor who witnessed the US and Iraqi National Guards assault on Falluja hospital, told Aljazeera that the medical staff received threats from the Iraqi health minister who said if anyone disclosed information about the raid, they would be arrested or dismissed from their jobs.

"We were tied up and beaten despite being unarmed and having only our medical instruments," al-Muhannadi said.

"The hospital was targeted by bombs and rockets. I was with a woman in labour. The umbilical cord had not yet been cut. At that time, a US solider shouted at one of the national guards to arrest me and tie my hands while I was helping the mother to deliver. I will never forget this incident," the assistant doctor said.

"I am from Falluja and I work there. They claimed I was a fighter and stole our money and mobile phones," she said.

Patients targeted

"The troops dragged patients from their beds and pushed them towards the wall. There were 17 injured people among the patients," al-Muhannadi said.

"We exited from the hospital on the second day of the attack, but we could not return as the main Falluja-Saqlawiya junction was controlled by the US troops. We saw around 150 women, children and the elderly attacked by aircraft fire," she said.

"All of us were subject to intense inspection; the soldiers even examined children's nappies. Two female doctors were forced to totally undress," al-Muhannadi said.

Residents say many civilians have died and hospitals continue to receive casualties, including children.

Latest attacks

The US miltary said it had targeted a fortified underground bunker on Monday with reinforced tunnels leading to stores of weapons, including an anti-aircraft artillery gun.

At least five artillery rounds and air strikes hit the southern portion of the city, and soon afterwards exchanges of gunfire and blasts could be heard.

The attacks followed sporadic mortar rounds against resistance targets overnight.

"One mission early on 15 November attacked a bunker complex in the southernmost unpopulated section of Falluja after multi-national forces discovered an underground bunker and steel-reinforced tunnels," a US military statement said.

"The tunnels connected a ring of facilities filled with weapons, an anti-aircraft artillery gun, bunk beds, a truck and a suspected weapons cache."

The US military also alleged it had uncovered so-called torture chambers in Falluja. However, this could not be independently substantiated and no pictures have been released by the US military to verify the claim.

One marine was killed on Monday bringing to 39 the number of US soldiers who have died since the assault on Fallujah was launched, according to military figures.

At least five Iraqi troops have died. US sources put the number of dead resistance fighters at 1200 but the Shura Council of the Falluja Mujahidin says the figure is closer to 100.

The claims have been impossible to verify independently.

Aljazeera + Agencies

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