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Tension in Falluja amid truce talks
Muslim clerics have entered the besieged town of Falluja to meet with US military commanders to seek the restoration of police control and to end the almost two-weeks of bloody fighting. Senior cleric Shaikh Abd al-Salam al-Kubaisi said representatives of the Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), the highest Sunni authority in Iraq, were allowed to enter Falluja on Friday after being barred from doing so one day earlier. Speaking at a press conference on Friday, spokesperson for the AMS, Dr Abd al-Salam al-Kubaisi said the situation in Falluja is worsening and accused the US of using cluster bombs. More than 600 Iraqis have been killed in the last week in Falluja. "Last night and throughout yesterday, US fighters and helicopters massacred residents of Falluja by dropping banned cluster bombs. The people of Falluja were bombed because they were defending their city, land, and honour. The most horrible brutality was the targeting of ambulances which carried pregnant women who were about to give birth. There were tens of bodies which are still under debris and we could not arrive at the places as US snipers prevented people from getting them out. Via you, (addressing the international media) I call on the entire world to see what we are doing and what the US forces have been doing." Al-Kubaisi also accused US forces of detaining and torturing children.
| ... and puppies. And kittens. And baby ducks... |
The latest 48-hour extension to the ceasefire expired on Friday and US commanders are due to meet local Iraqi leaders to discuss prospects for a permanent truce.
| I guess that's the sort of thing they teach you in Islamic scholar school... |
Posted by: Long Hair Republican 2004-04-16 |
