IRAQ: IRAQI'S WHO FLED LAST MONTH'S U.S. LED OFFENSIVE IN FALLUJA ARE ALLOWED BACK TO INSPECT THEIR HOMES.

Record ID: 648854

  • Title: IRAQ: IRAQI'S WHO FLED LAST MONTH'S U.S. LED OFFENSIVE IN FALLUJA ARE ALLOWED BACK TO INSPECT THEIR HOMES.
  • Date: 24th December 2004
  • Summary: (W3) FALLUJA, IRAQ (DECEMBER 24, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. TRAVEL: SHOT OF RUINS AND DAMAGE. (2 SHOTS) 0.24 2. WS: CARS OUTSIDE CHECKPOINT. 0.31 3. WS: CIVILIANS OF FALLUJA TALKING TO NATIONAL GUARDSMAN AT CHECKPOINT. 0.37 4. WS: CARS LINING UP AT CHECKPOINT. 0.44 5. WS: NATIONAL GUARDSMEN FRISKING PEOPLE AT CHECKPOINT. 0.54 6. CU: BACK SHOT OF GUARDSMAN SEARCHING CIVILIAN. (2 SHOTS) 1.02 7. WS/CU: GUARDSMAN SEARCHING CAR. (2 SHOTS) 1.15 8. CU: GUARDSMEN MANNING CHECKPOINT. 1.24 9. CU: MAN AND WOMAN SITTING ON DIRT OUTSIDE CHECKPOINT. 1.30 10. TRACK: WOMEN AND CHILDREN HEADING TO CHECKPOINT. 1.39 11. CU: WOMAN AND CHILD WALKING TOWARDS CHECKPOINT. 1.43 12. SCU: SOUNDBITE (Arabic), WOMAN FROM FALLUJA, SAYING: "They (Iraqi National Guard) are trying to explain to the people the way to enter Falluja to ensure their safety. We asked them if we can enter and we found out that we are being allowed to enter since yesterday. The situation was very normal. They searched the men, my father and his car but I and other women have not been searched. Everything is normal and they were very good with us." 2.04 13. MV: WOMAN AND CHILD RIDING TRUCK. 2.10 14. WS: CIVILIANS AT CHECKPOINT. 2.16 15. CU: SOUNDBITE (Arabic) OLD MAN IN CAR, SAYING: "I came to see if our houses are demolished or not in order to bring back our families who are now in Saqlawiya. I have been in Baghdad for three months now." 2.30 16. WS: CAR AND PEOPLE HEADING TOWARDS CHECKPOINT. 2.37 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 8th January 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: FALLUJA, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAD8EJ7LWLXMWII6BMHEJU3DBJ8
  • Story Text: Iraqis who fled last month's U.S.- led offensive on
    Falluja are trickling back to inspect their homes in the
    shattered city.



    A group of displaced people of Falluja were allowed
    back into the city on Friday (December 24), to check if
    homes they left behind were still standing.

    Thursday was the official start of the resettlement of
    the former insurgent stronghold that was conquered block by
    block last month, leaving a virtual ghost town with many
    homes damaged, sewage running in the streets and electrical
    and water facilities demolished.

    Lines of cars queuing up outside a northwestern
    entrance to the city on Saqlawiya side were waiting to
    receive passes to enter the Sunni Muslim stronghold, the
    erstwhile symbol of resistance to the US presence in Iraq,
    while others approached the checkpoint on foot.

    The men showed their passports and tattered identity
    papers to Iraqi national guards (ING) who frisked them and
    searched their cars at a checkpoint and then allow them to
    drive their cars inside.

    One woman said: "They (the ING) are trying to explain
    to the people the way to enter Falluja to ensure their
    safety. We asked them if we can enter and we found out that
    we are being allowed to enter since yesterday. The
    situation was very normal. They searched the men, my father
    and his car but I and other women had not been searched.

    Everything is normal and they were very good with us."
    The city has been divided into 18 neighbourhoods and
    residents will be allowed back in for escorted inspections
    one neighbourhood at a time.

    Residents of the Andalus neighbourhood were the first
    allowed to enter the city, which once held 250,000 people,
    on Thursday (December 23). About 900 of them, almost all men and all
    from the single northwestern neighbourhood of
    Andalus, re-entered for a few hours to see the condition of
    their homes and decide if they want to move their families
    back, according to marine officers there.

    "I came to see our houses if they are demolished or not
    in order to bring back our families who are now in
    Saqlawiya. I have been in Baghdad for three months now,"
    said an elderly man from Falluja as he was driving towards
    checkpoint.

    More than 200,000 people sought shelter in nearby
    villages ahead of the November 8 assault and have been
    living in camps or nearby villages, many with only the
    clothes on their backs.

    Returning families will face serious privation. With
    water purifying plants and distribution systems largely
    destroyed, officials have built 24 temporary water tanks
    and returnees will have to fetch supplies by hand.

    Residents will also receive food aid, and kerosene to
    fuel generators for lighting. Every returning family will
    be given the equivalent of 100 US dollars, the interim
    government has said.

    Iraq's interim government said families would
    eventually be paid 2,000 US dollars compensation for
    partial damage to their homes, 4,000 dollars for
    substantial damage and 10,000 dollars if their homes were
    completely destroyed in the assault. Shopkeepers would
    receive 1,500 - 3,000 dollars based on the size of their
    shop and what they sell, it said in a statement.



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