IRAQ: DISPLACED PEOPLE OF FALLUJA OBSERVE EID FESTIVAL IN TENTS SET UP BY CHARITIES IN BAGHDAD/ WOUNDED FALLUJA CHILDREN IN BAGHDAD HOSPITALS

Record ID: 647313

  • Title: IRAQ: DISPLACED PEOPLE OF FALLUJA OBSERVE EID FESTIVAL IN TENTS SET UP BY CHARITIES IN BAGHDAD/ WOUNDED FALLUJA CHILDREN IN BAGHDAD HOSPITALS
  • Date: 14th November 2004
  • Summary: (U3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 14, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE/ PAN OF CAMP FOR DISPLACED PEOPLE OF FALLUJA IN MANSOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD OF BAGHDAD 0.06 2. SLV TENTS WITH WOMAN AND CHILDREN OUTSIDE 0.14 3. SLV WOMAN SITTING OUTSIDE TENT WITH HER CHILDREN 0.20 3. CLOSE OF BANNER AT ENTRANCE TO CAMP READING " HUMANITARIAN RELIEF SOCIETY SETTING UP TEMPORARY CAMP FOR FALLUJA PEOPLE" 0.26 4. CLOSE OF CHILD CARRYING BISCUIT AND MONEY 0.31 5. SLV FATHER WITH CHILD NEAR TENT 0.37 6. SLV CHILD FALLING ON GROUND AS HE CROSSES OVER ROPES OF TENT 0.48 7. SLV HALF-NAKED CHILD STANDING OUTSIDE TENT 0.54 8. SLV PEOPLE NEAR TENTS 1.04 9. SLV WOMAN WASHING CLOTHES 1.09 10. WIDE OF RUBBISH IN FRONT OF TENT/ WOMEN AND CHILDREN 1.18 11. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SABIHA KARIM, A RESIDENT OF FALLUJA'S NEIGHBOURHOOD OF JOLAN, SAYING: "May God protect the Mujahideen and aid them with victory over the U.S. occupying forces. All the children, women and the elderly fled the city. I hope that all the Muslim people help the people in Falluja. We are living in a good situation here, but I want the people to help people who remained in Falluja." 1.38 12. SLV MAN DISTRIBUTING FOOD TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN 1.44 13. SLV OF WOMAN WALKING AWAY CARRYING FOOD PACKETS AND HER CHILD 1.51 14. WIDE OF MAN SITTING IN TENT WITH HIS FAMILY 1.56 15. CLOSE-UP OF WOMEN AND HER DAUGHTERS INSIDE TENT 2.02 16. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ABD IBRAHIM, SAYING: "We, especially Falluja people and the Iraqi people, if we said that we feel happy in Eid we may be lying, because there is no happiness when our brothers and sons are being killed and our women are homeless and our homes and mosques are being destroyed. What Eid is this?" 2.23 17. SLV WOMAN STANDING NEAR MAN DISTRIBUTING FOOD 2.29 18. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF AL NO'MAN HOSPITAL IN ADHAMIYA NEIGHBOURHOOD OF BAGHDAD 2.34 19. WIDE OF HOSPITAL WARD WITH WOUNDED CHILDREN LYING ON BED 2.40 20. CLOSE OF WOUNDED CHILD WITH ARM IN CAST, LYING ON BED CRYING 2.50 21. WIDE OF WOUNDED CHILD WITH BROKEN LEGS 2.55 22. SLV WOMAN HOLDING WOUNDED CHILD 3.02 23. CLOSE-UP OF WOUNDED CHILD CARRIED BY MOTHER 3.08 24. VARIOUS OF CHILD WITH AMPUTATED LEG 3.21 25. SLV MOTHER AND NURSE NEAR BEDSIDE OF CHILD 3.27 26. VARIOUS OF WOUNDED CHILD LYING ON BED HOLDING TOY 3.41 27. WIDE OF WARD WITH WOUNDED ON BED AND RELATIVES AT BEDSIDE 3.46 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 29th November 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVACFQ7CBRBV70BP13619MCETIDZ
  • Story Text: Displaced people of Falluja celebrated Eid al-Fitr
    in tents.




    A large number of the people of the rebel-held city
    of Falluja observed Eid al-Fitr on Sunday (November 14) in
    tents set up by humanitarian societies near Falluja and in
    Baghdad's neighbourhood of Mansour.

    In the camp's dusty yard in Baghdad's al-Mansour
    neighbourhood, women, men and children tried to cope with
    the new situation, saying that they feel safe but are
    worried about their relatives whom they left behind in the
    city.

    "May God protect the Mujahideen and aid them with
    victory over the U.S. occupying forces. All the children,
    women and the elderly fled the city. I hope that all the
    Muslim people help the people in Falluja. We are living in
    good situation here, but I want the people to help people
    who remained in Falluja," said Sabiha Karim from Falluja's
    district of Jolan, one of the bastions of insurgents.

    More than 80 per cent of the population of 200,000 to
    300,000 were said to have fled before the assault was
    launched on Monday (November 8). But enough reports
    trickled out of the besieged city to show that many
    inhabitants still remained, despite their invisibility in
    the television footage, and that their plight was severe.

    At least 10,000 civilians from Falluja took refuge in
    nearby towns like Amriya and Habbaniya before the offensive.

    It is unclear how many of Falluja's 300,000 people
    remain, but about half are thought to have fled before the
    main assault began. There has been no firm word on civilian
    casualties.

    Others said that they can not enjoy the happiness of
    the feast as long as death and destruction continued.

    "We, especially Falluja people and the Iraqi people, if
    we said that we feel happy in Eid we may be lying, because
    there is no happiness when our brothers and sons are being
    killed and our women are homeless and our homes and mosques
    are being destroyed. What Eid is this?" said Abd Ibrahim,
    who fled the bombing in the city with his wife and three
    daughters.

    According to people who fled amid fighting, the city
    smells of explosives and decaying flesh. It is a ghost
    town. In between the fighting, there are periods of
    absolute, eerie silence. Many of the people have fled. The
    streets are empty, as are a lot of houses.

    For those that are still there, the vacant houses left
    behind by the refugees can themselves become a refuge - a
    place to go when their own neighbourhoods are under
    bombardment.

    U.S. and Iraqi forces began blasting their way into
    rebel-held Falluja last Monday. National Security Minister
    of State Kasim Daoud said more than 1,000 guerrillas had
    been killed in the offensive.

    Iraq's U.S.-backed interim government has vowed to
    crush a widespread insurgency before planned nationwide
    elections in January.

    Due to the deterioration in the humanitarian situation
    in the city, a number of wounded, mostly children, were
    brought to Baghdad's hospitals for treatment.

    Most of the children admitted to Al-No'man Hospital in
    Adhamiya neighbourhood are suffering from injuries to the
    upper and lower parts, some with amputated legs or feet.

    Iraq's health minister said the evacuation had begun of
    wounded civilians trapped inside Fallujah during the past
    four days of military operations.

    In a statement Minister Alaa Alwan said ambulances had
    begun transferring "significant numbers" of wounded to
    Baghdad hospitals. He did not specify how many.

    On Friday (November 12), aid agencies including the Red
    Cross warned of a major humanitarian disaster unless Iraqi
    and U.S. authorities allowed food, water and medicine to
    reach the trapped civilians in the besieged city.

    Falluja General Hospital was one of the first targets
    taken over by the Iraqi and U.S. forces during the assault
    on the city.


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