IRAQ: Medical supplies delivered to Najaf as fighting continues

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

BAGHDAD, 12 Aug 2004 (IRIN) - International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) officials had delivered three mt of medical supplies to the besieged southern Iraqi city of Najaf as US troops launched a comprehensive assault on Mehdi army fighters resisting them on Thursday.

In addition, ministry of health officials took at least five ambulances to evacuate the wounded and bring them to Baghdad, Khalid Naimy, an ICRC spokesman in Baghdad, told IRIN. "War-wounded kits" including surgical items, IV fluids and antibiotics were among the supplies, Naimy said.

Unconfirmed reports suggest between 25,000 and 50,000 people may have been displaced by fighting in Najaf, some 170 km from the capital, Baghdad. Some families fled to relatives in the neighbouring city of Karbala, according to ICRC reports. Others in the area of fighting around the holy Imam Ali shrine were thought to be still seeking shelter inside their houses, Naimy said.

"Many refuse to go out or stay with relatives in the area," Naimy said. "We don't have a clear-cut number of people who are internally displaced." But in most parts of the city away from the shrine, shops are open and people are going about their business, Major Amber Lehning, a spokeswoman for the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit Civil Affairs office, told IRIN.

US and Iraqi forces told Najaf residents to leave their homes in broadcast messages earlier in the week. "Our experiences in Najaf do not indicate a large humanitarian problem of displaced persons," Lehning said. "Roughly four-fifths of the city are going about their daily lives." However, other reports suggest that shops and businesses including the local markets, have shut down temporarily as fighting continues.

One hospital is open, although Najaf's main teaching hospital is closed for renovation after previous fighting and looting in April and May left it in a shambles. Mehdi army fighters occupied the hospital for several days before they were forced out by Coalition troops.

Aid agencies were also planning to send water and food to the region. The ministry of health reported having several medical teams and supplies ready that had not been delivered because of the continued fighting. But Lehning maintained the situation was generally better than was being reported.

Meanwhile, an estimated 72 people were killed and 150 were wounded in nearby Kut over the past 24-hours as fighting spread there, according to local reporters in the city. An estimated 500 people fled to Kut from Najaf in recent days.

Earlier this week the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, called for an end to the fighting. "The Secretary-General [Kofi Annan] has offered UN mediation between the conflicting forces and the new SRSG [Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi] as the representative to Iraq would do this if both parties agree," UN spokesman for Iraq, Nejib Friji, told IRIN from the Jordanian capital, Amman on Thursday. Regarding the humanitarian situation, Friji said it was too early to give an assessment of the situation.

US troops announced on Thursday morning that they had launched an assault on Najaf to oust Mehdi army fighters loyal to radical Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr. In central Baghdad, protesters gathered in support of the Mehdi army but dispersed by late morning.

Other protesters in Kut called for interim prime minister Iyad Allawi to step down, calling him a CIA agent.

US forces previously clashed with the Mehdi army in April and May after an arrest warrant was issued for Moqtada Sadr, who is seen as their leader. Sadr is wanted in connection with the murder of a rival cleric.

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