By Ahmed Rasheed and Wisam Mohammed
1 hour, 46 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Twenty people were killed in Baghdad's Shi'ite slum of Sadr City on Wednesday, security sources said, despite vehicle bans aimed at preventing unrest from spreading on the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.
Up to 70 people have died in Sadr City since Sunday in battles between black-masked militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and U.S. and Iraqi troops.
The upsurge in fighting comes as the top U.S. officials in Iraq testified in Washington that they opposed setting a timetable to withdraw troops from the 5-year-old war.
"The floor of the hospital is covered with the blood of children," said Dr Qasim al-Mudalla, manager of the Imam Ali hospital in Sadr City, where he said four children and two women were among 11 dead bodies brought in on Wednesday.
"What is the world doing? They have seen the blood of our children and are doing nothing."
Other parts of Baghdad were quiet, with streets clear of traffic because of a one-day vehicle ban in the capital for the anniversary of the day U.S. troops rolled into the capital, deposing President Saddam Hussein.
Shops, government offices, schools and universities were shut and residents were allowed out only on foot.
Sadr had called a mass demonstration against the United States for the anniversary, but postponed it saying he feared for his followers' safety.
Many Iraqis spoke of the anniversary with bitterness. Retired army officer Salim Hussein said the past five years had yielded nothing but "blood, bombs, curfews and in-fighting."
"The government is totally incapable of providing security," he said, walking near the square where U.S. forces toppled Saddam's statue on April 9, 2003.
President Jalal Talabani, however, hailed the anniversary in a televised address as a day to be celebrated.
"April 9 will enter history as the day the most arrogant dictatorship Mesopotamia has ever witnessed was deposed, the fall of a political regime that ... left behind mass graves that contained hundred thousands of innocents," he said.
U.S. President George W. Bush, who is due to give a speech on Iraq on Thursday, spoke to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by telephone. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Bush expressed support for Maliki's crackdown on militia.
U.S. DEATHS
Maliki launched operations against Sadr's militia last month in the southern city of Basra and fighting has spread to Baghdad, where the cleric's Mehdi Army has clashed fiercely with both U.S. and Iraqi troops.
U.S. forces announced on Wednesday that two more American soldiers had died, raising the toll to 13 since an upsurge of fighting began on Sunday. Rockets or mortars, which U.S. forces say are mainly fired from Sadr City, hit the Green Zone compound, but caused no injuries, the U.S. embassy said.
The Iraqi parliament's Human Rights Committee warned in a statement of a "tragic situation" in Sadr City, where food and medicine are running short after a two-week blockade.
Vehicle bans were also imposed in Samarra and Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown. In Falluja, where members of Saddam's Sunni Arab minority rose up twice against U.S. forces in 2004, several hundred protesters marched calling for American forces to leave.
In Washington, the top two U.S. officials in Iraq testified to members of Congress for a second day on Wednesday.
Military commander General David Petraeus and ambassador Ryan Crocker said Iraq had made progress over the past year, but the improvements were fragile and could be reversed.
Petraeus advised against committing to a timetable for new troop reductions after forces sent last year as part of the so-called surge return home in July.
Petraeus' testimony suggests more than 100,000 U.S. troops will still be in Iraq when the next U.S. president succeeds Bush in January. Republican candidate John McCain opposes a timetable for further troop cuts, while Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama want to set a timetable to withdraw.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis and more than 4,000 U.S. troops have died in the war. Two million Iraqis have fled the country and about as many are displaced within Iraq.
For 10-year-old Ammar Karim, taking advantage of the vehicle ban to play soccer with other boys in the middle of central Baghdad's normally traffic-clogged Karrada Street, the anniversary had a simpler meaning: a chance to play.
"I like this government because we have a lot of curfews. It is the only time we can go out and play football. I wish we could have curfews all the time, because otherwise my family keeps me locked in the house."
(Writing by Peter Graff, editing by Mary Gabriel)
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International Medical Corps Assists People of Sadr City
09 Apr 2008 23:05:00 GMT
Source: International Medical Corps (IMC) - USA
International Medical Corps
Baghdad, Iraq/Los Angeles, CA, USA - For the residents in an Iraqi city paralyzed by violence and fear the arrival of vital supplies from International Medical Corps (IMC) comes just in time. For some, it was the first food they had in days. However, it was no small feat.
Baghdad's Sadr City district has been hit by fierce clashes between U.S. and Iraqi forces and local militias causing shops and markets to close. A curfew now in its third week has kept families indoors preventing them from reaching stores to restock critical supplies of water and food.
Since last week, International Medical Corps staff is assisting the most vulnerable families in Sadr City. IMC is distributing one month's worth of food to poor families - including rice, cooking oil, sugar, beans, and flour - as well as potable water and essential medical supplies. Obstacles such as mines and sniper fire in the main streets make accessing the area and providing assistance very difficult.
"After three weeks of curfew people feel the effects in every part of their life," says Agron Ferati, International Medical Corps country director in Iraq. "The oppressive nature of curfews further compounds the deep-rooted problems ordinary Iraqis have to deal with every day."
For the residents of Sadr City life is growing more miserable by the day. Food is running out and people are clearly in need of assistance. Fresh produce is completely depleted. Electricity shortages occur daily in Baghdad, even at the best of times. People are unable to drive to petrol stations to restock on fuel for generators. However, now, even if they made it to the petrol station, they would find supplies depleted.
To avoid further disruptions in critical care regional hospitals are receiving much needed medical supplies from International Medical Corps that will help them to better cope during curfews and administer life-saving care to patients.
With food supplies initially located within the midst of fierce fighting around Jamila Market and access restricted for all civilian vehicles, International Medical Corps staff improvised a network of wheelbarrows to transport the goods from the stores. Trucks were positioned at the nearest accessible point to ferry the foodstuffs to the areas targeted for distribution.
In order to keep a low profile and minimize the risk to beneficiaries by air strikes, International Medical Corps staff established a low-key distribution center in a residential house. Food was given out to small groups to avoid attracting attention.
In anticipation of increasing scarcity of essential supplies, International Medical Corps has strategically pre-positioned 1,500 food packages and has two additional emergency medical supply distributions planned for hospitals in Sadr City.
International Medical Corps has continuously worked inside Iraq for the last five years and will continue to assist to the most vulnerable Iraqis.
Since its inception nearly 25 years ago, International Medical Corps' mission has been consistent: relieve the suffering of those impacted by war, natural disaster and disease, by delivering vital health care services that focus on training. This approach of helping people help themselves is critical to returning devastated populations to self-reliance. For more information visit our website at www.imcworldwide.org.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
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