- FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) -
U.S. warplanes, artillery and mortars struck areas across Falluja on Monday
as groups of diehard insurgents held out to the last in the week-long battle.
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- The U.S. military says it has taken full control of Falluja,
but scattered spots of resistance remain, particularly in southern parts.
Large areas of the city lie in ruins, devastated by the ferocity of the
U.S. military's seven-day onslaught.
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- A Reuters correspondent who drove from north to south
saw bloated and decomposing bodies in the streets, smashed homes, ruined
mosques and power and telephone lines hanging uselessly.
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- Iraq's Red Crescent group has sent seven truck-loads
of food and medicine to the city, but the U.S. forces have held up the
aid at Falluja's main hospital, on the western outskirts.
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- A U.S. Marine commander said American forces were working
to deliver assistance in the city themselves. Any Iraqis needing help would
be told to go to the hospital, he said.
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- Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has said he
doesn't believe any civilians were killed in the offensive, which has left
38 U.S. soldiers, 6 Iraqi troops and more than 1,200 insurgents dead. But
witness accounts contradicted him.
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- A member of an Iraqi relief committee told Al Jazeera
television he saw 22 bodies buried in rubble of one street in Falluja's
northern Jolan district on Sunday.
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- "Of the 22 bodies, five were found in one house
as well as two children whose ages did not exceed 15 and a man with an
artificial leg," Mohammed Farhan Awad said.
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- "Some of the bodies we found had been eaten by stray
dogs and cats. It was a very painful sight."
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- No help has reached civilians in Falluja since the assault
began last Monday. Aid agencies have described the situation as a humanitarian
disaster, basing their view on the accounts of refugees who have fled and
images broadcast on television.
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- The Iraqi Red Crescent says it knows of at least 150
families trapped inside Falluja in desperate need of aid. One father of
seven contacted by Reuters on Sunday said his children were sick from diarrhea
and had not eaten for days.
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