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Fierce fighting in Falluja<br>
by <br>
Wednesday 07 April 2004 7:51 AM GMT <br><br>
<img src="cid:5.2.0.9.2.20040407082758.00b196b8@66.103.156.66.0" alt="98898c.jpg"><br><br>
<b>Fierce street battles are raging in Falluja between resistance
fighters defending the town and US occupation forces, who are launching
missile attacks in and around residential areas.<br><br>
</b></font><font size=2>Hospital sources said at least 52 Iraqis were
killed and 90 injured in attacks on the besieged town of Falluja on
Wednesday, said Aljazeera correspondent in Falluja, Ahmad
Mansur.<br><br>
"Iraqi medic Rafi al-Isawai said the number of casualities is
expected to double," he added.<br><br>
Another 53 Iraqis died in attacks overnight in the besieged town which
American forces sealed off on Sunday. "More than 200 Iraqis,
including women children, were injured in the past 24 hours," said
Mansur.<br><br>
Twenty-five of those killed were from one family.<br><br>
<b>'Getting worse'<br><br>
</b>"The situation is getting worse," said Mansur. "An
ambulance carrying casualties was attacked on its way to the medical
centre. The American forces closed the road leading to the city's
hospital and everybody walking in the streets of Falluja is now becoming
a target."<br><br>
The US forces have evacuated the factories in the industrial area of the
city and asked the workers to leave and not come back until a day or two,
he added.<br><br>
The correspondent also confirmed that Abd al-Aziz al-Samari mosque, where
the office of the Association of Muslim Clerics is, was attacked and
among the casualties were a family sitting in a car parked behind
the mosque.<br><br>
<img src="cid:5.2.0.9.2.20040407082758.00b196b8@66.103.156.66.1" alt="9889be.jpg"><br><br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=1><b>A number of children were among
<br>
the casualties in Falluja<br>
</b></font><font size=2>"The American troops are still in the
outside section of Falluja and they have not reached the centre of the
city yet," said Mansur.<br><br>
Earlier, speaking live from a rooftop in the tense town, Mansur said the
hospital is struggling to cope with the rising casualties. <br><br>
"They are attacking residential neighbourhoods," he said as US
warplanes swooped over the area and fired rockets. Intense gunfire could
be heard from the streets. <br><br>
"The residents of Falluja are asking where is the (US-appointed)
Iraqi Governing Council," said an obviously shaken Mansur.
"They are asking why the Iraqis are not protecting
them."<br><br>
<b>Plea for help<br><br>
</b>"Residents of Falluja call on the Arab world to intervene and
lift the siege on this town of 300,000. They ask where are the Arab
leaders in this time?" he said before throwing himself to the ground
as a plane flew overhead.</font><font size=3> <br><br>
</font><font size=2>Falluja has come under fierce US attack in the past
three days as occupation forces sealed off the town, a centre for
anti-occupation activity, in an effort to crush the
resistance.</font><font size=3> <br><br>
US marines tried for a third time to take control of the town but were
forced to retreat.<br><br>
</font><font size=2>The Aljazeera crew, including cameramen Layf Muftaq
and Hasan Walid, sound engineer Sayf al-Din and correspondent Hamid
Hadid, are the only media personnel inside the town. <br><br>
US forces besieged the town after last week's ambush in which four
security guards were killed and their bodies mutilated and dragged
through the streets by Iraqi mobs.<br><br>
</font><font size=3><b>Aljazeera<br>
By <br><br>
</b>You can find this article at:<br>
<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A73529F1-1554-4C68-8774-BA478D565B02.htm" eudora="autourl">http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A73529F1-1554-4C68-8774-BA478D565B02.htm</a>
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