Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Recentissime dall'IRAQ

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7D9D45C5-DD8A-4F6C-9A19-A7EF943DCF38.htm
'Catastrophic conditions' in Falluja
Saturday 13 November 2004, 15:58 Makka Time, 12:58 GMT    
US forces have moved from the centre to the north of the town
 
 Related:
 Anti-US fighters take control of Mosul 
 Falluja plunges into humanitarian crisis 
 Fierce fighting in Falluja 
The six-day US-led assault on Falluja has turned catastrophic for
civilians there and fuelled fighting in Iraq's northern city of Mosul.
"Conditions in Falluja are catastrophic," Firdus al-Abadi, spokeswoman
for the Iraqi Red Crescent in Baghdad, said.
A four-truck convoy of relief supplies left Baghdad on Saturday for
Falluja, even though the US military and Iraq's interim government
have not accepted the Red Crescent's pleas for permission to enter the
urban war zone. 
Dangerous destination
"Our destination is Falluja. We know it is risky but this is our duty
as a humani-tarian society and as Iraqis," al-Abadi said. 
Officials said the trucks are carrying food, blankets, first-aid kits,
medicine and a water-purification unit from the Red Crescent, the
International Committee of the Red Cross and Unicef. 
 
Humanitarian aid is being sent to
Falluja by the Iraqi Red Crescent
"We've had no contact with the Americans," said Jamal al-Karbuli, the
doctor in charge of the convoy. The trucks would drive until troops
stopped them, he said. 
 
"Then we'll try to talk to them, let them search the trucks to see we
only have medicine, food and first-aid," he said as the convoy began
its eastward 50km drive to Falluja. 
Fierce fighting
Fadhil Badran, Aljazeera's correspondent in Falluja, said fighting was
fierce and continuous in Falluja's south-eastern neighbourhood
al-Shuhadaa and in al-Julan to the north-west.  
Day sometimes turns into night due to the intense smoke from burning
homes, shops and factories as also from US military vehicles set
ablaze, Badran said.
 
Intense smoke from burning
buildings envelops the town 
US forces have moved from the middle to the north of the town, Badran
said. The north and west are still controlled by the Iraqi resistance,
he said, adding that large numbers of fighters were present in the
Senaee and Askari neighbourhoods. 
Describing the conditions of civilians as abysmal, Badran said US air
strikes had killed several families. Women, children and the sick have
been buried in their gardens, he said." 
"I met a Falluja civilian who told me that he asked the Red Crescent
for help but they could not oblige. He said he had buried two of his
children and that two would die today, and hence he would not need any
assistance," Badran said.
Resentment
The attack on Falluja has inflamed resentment across central Iraq,
where anti-US fighters have launched a wave of attacks and bombings. 
Fighters have launched attacks
in Mosul against US-led forces
Iraqi national guardsmen based near the Syrian border were ordered to
move to Mosul where the fighters have taken over streets and police
stations since Wednesday. 
On Saturday, looters rampaged through a palace that had been used as a
US base in Mosul after troops apparently left at dawn.
Cars and trucks packed with people swarmed to the palace, where they
were seen making off with food, equipment and clothes, even a
mattress, a reporter at the scene in northern Mosul said. 
Air strikes
 
The government fired Mosul's police chief after nine police stations
fell into the hands of fighters. Residents said armed men roamed the
streets on Saturday, with no sign of security forces.
The US military denied on Friday that Mosul was out of control, but
said it had launched air strikes on Thursday night to try to curb
fighters.     
The United States said the Falluja offensive launched by 10,000 US and
2000 Iraqi troops on Monday would not stop until all resistance in the
city had been wiped out. 
 
Aljazeera's offices in Iraq were
shut by Iraqi government order
 
Aljazeera regret
In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was deeply
disturbed by a new directive from Iraqi authorities warning media to
stick to the government line on Falluja. 
"It damages the government's credibility in establishing a free and
democratic society," CPJ director Ann Cooper said. 
Aljazeera has meanwhile apologised to its viewers for being unable to
cover the Iraqi events directly due to the closure of its offices by
the Iraqi interim government three months ago.
AMS member held
In other incidents, an Iraqi national guards team arrested Mustafa
al-Dulaimi, a member of Iraq's influential Muslim body Association of
Muslim Scholars, after raiding his home in Baghdad. 
Eyewitnesses confirmed that he was brutally assaulted by some of the
guardsmen. 
Oil pipeline in Biji was set ablaze
Al-Dulaimi had earlier led a demonstration in front of the Abu Haneefa
mosque to condemn the US and Iraqi forces attacks on Falluja.
 
Clashes spread
Also on Saturday, four Iraqis were killed and 12 injured in a US raid
at Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad. Two military vehicles were damaged in
the area by an explosive device that targeted a US army convoy on the
highway, Aljazeera has learned.
In Biji, a blast in an oil pipeline caused by an explosive device set
it ablaze. Two of the oil facility guards were reported missing after
the incident.
In Tikrit, four Iraqis, three of whom were policemen, were injured
seriously in an explosion. 
US vehicle destroyed
In Baquba, a US Humvee military vehicle was destroyed by an explosive
device. The US forces cut off all roads leading to the accident site.
Eyewitnesses said the injured were evacuated in a US military
aircraft.  
"We know it is risky but this is our duty as a humanitarian society
and as Iraqis"
Firdus al-Abadi,
Iraqi Red Crescent spokeswoman
 
Anti-US fighters also broke into al-Sadr hotel located in al-Karada, a
centrally located area of Baghdad, Aljazeera reported. 
Fighting erupted in Azimya between Iraqi fighters and US and Iraqi
police forces near the Abu Haneefa mosque. 
US and Iraqi forces also raided a mosque in al-Habainya on the
suspicion that fighters from Falluja carrying weapons had taken refuge
there. 
Iraq's international airport in Baghdad will remain closed for
commercial flights until further notice, the office of US-backed
interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has said.

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