ANKARA, 9 Apr 2004 (IRIN) - Aid agencies have expressed deep concern over medical help available to the injured following an escalation in violence in Iraq, particularly in the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west from the capital, Baghdad.
"There is only one hospital in Fallujah and up until yesterday it was not accessible and there were a great number of casualties, but we don't know what the situation is now," a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Nada Doumani, told IRIN on Friday from the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Fighting between Coalition forces and armed groups opposed to them has led to the deaths of dozens of civilians in cities including Baghdad, Fallujah and Ramadi, northwest of the capital and Amara, Karbala, Kut and Nasiriyah in the south.
According to reports, at least 200 Iraqis and over 30 Coalition soldiers have been killed. Dozens of those killed appear to have been civilians.
"We call on the groups fighting to respect the civilian population," Doumani said, adding that some deliveries of medical items had been made to Fallujah, Baghdad, Najaf and Nasiriyah on Thursday. "We don't know if other aid agencies are able to get into these cities now to deliver urgently needed supplies," she explained.
The clashes are between Coalition forces and the followers of the Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, in the predominantly Shi'ite districts of Baghdad. They started on 4 April and were sparked by the closure of the "al-Hawza al-Natiqa" newspaper, known to be a mouthpiece of Muqtada al-Sadr's group, and the arrest of one of his closest allies, Mustafa al-Ya'qubi, on charges relating to the April 2003 assassination in al-Najaf of well-known Shi'ite cleric 'Abd al-Majid al-Khoie.
The newspaper was closed down by order of Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), on the grounds that it was inciting violence.
The US military has launched major operations in Ramadi and Fallujah following the mutilation of four US private security guards last week in the same area. By Friday, the US announced that military operations in Fallujah had been temporarily suspended.
The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan issued a statement on Thursday calling on all those concerned to "respect international law, particularly in regard to the protection of civilians in armed conflict, and to intensify their efforts to end the current crisis." He urged all parties to allow full access to civilians who might require urgent medical and other assistance.
Amnesty International (AI) backed this call and urged Coalition forces and armed insurgents in Iraq to do everything possible to protect civilians caught up in escalating fighting in cities across the country.
"The loss of life in Iraq in recent days is tragic and unacceptable. The parties to the conflict must immediately take all necessary measures to protect civilians in Iraq as required by international humanitarian law," the watchdog group said.
Meanwhile, fears over safety of foreigners increased after six hostages were taken. Japanese aid workers and a journalist were being held by kidnappers on Thursday, threatening to kill them unless Tokyo pulled troops out of Iraq. However, Japan's prime minister said his country would not withdraw its troops from Iraq, the international media reported. Seven South Korean missionaries were also kidnapped this week but were later released unharmed.
A Syrian born, Canadian citizen aid worker for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) was also taken hostage in Najaf. "Mr Fadi Fadel is a committed humanitarian aid worker who is in Iraq solely to assist conflict-affected Iraqi communities. On humanitarian grounds, we appeal to his captors to release him unharmed," the IRC said in a statement on Thursday.
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