Samarra Buries Its Dead After �Massacre�
The corridors of Samarra�s hospital bursting at the
seams with corpses (AFP)
Additional Reporting By Samir Haddad, IOL
Correspondent
SAMARRA, October 4 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) �
Residents of the Iraqi city of Samarra started
collecting the bodies of their relatives and loved
ones killed in a bloody US-led "massacre" as branded
by Iraq�s highest Sunni religious authority.
The stench of decomposing bodies filled the corridors
of Samarra 's hospital as staff wearing surgical masks
lifted corpses out of the building one after the
other, shouting out names as they reached the front
doors, where families waited.
Ambulances guarded by US military vehicles were going
around Samarra to collect the bodies of the dead,
while Iraqi national guardsmen roamed the streets in
pickup trucks or stood at intersections, reported
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Many buildings in the city's commercial district were
either riddled with bullets or partially destroyed,
the streets littered with burnt out vehicles.
At least 150 people were slain and scores wounded in
the two-day joint offensive against Samarra, a
predominantly Sunni Muslim city north of Baghdad.
According to medics and hospital officials, most of
the victims were civilians.
Hundreds of Iraqi families, mostly women and children,
having been lining up at the main entrances of Samarra
to escape the gates of hell broken loose by the US
occupation forces.
The Iraqi Red Crescent had also set up more than
twenty tents on the outskirts of the city to help the
wounded and destitute.
Massacre
An Iraqi boy walks ahead with a white flag as his
family members take away a dead relative (AFP)
A leading Sunni Muslim group blasted the Samarra
operation as a "massacre" and warned the interim
government that its US-influenced strategy will plunge
the country into more chaos.
"Who is going to respect [the January] elections paved
by the blood of Iraqis and built on their skulls?"
Asked Sheikh Mohammad Bashar Al-Faidi, spokesman for
the respected Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS),
during a press conference at Baghdad 's Umm Al-Qura
mosque on Monday, October3 .
"The United States is the world�s most terrorist
country in the modern age."
A resident of the war-battered city, who went under
the alias of Abi Al-Qiqaa, is an eyewitness to the
US-led massacre.
He told the same press conference he saw in one of
many heartrending scenes US forces shooting dead a
child crossing a street.
"They kept firing at him though he was dead," he said.
In another horrific incident, the eyewitness added, US
forces sprayed a civilian car with bullets, killing
all inside including five children.
"Two elderly women, to mention but a few examples,
were crushed to death by a US tank.
"The United States is the world�s most terrorist
country in the modern age," said Faidi (AFP)
Doctors inside Samrra�s only hospital complained of
sever blood and medicine shortage to help the tens of
people rushed in.
Despite the bloodshed and destruction, Iraqi Interior
Minister Falah Al-Naqib said the mission was the most
successful to date.
US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice was also
quick to praise the cooperation of3 , 000American
troops and2 , 000Iraqi National Guards in the
offensive.
"The reporting from the ground is that things have
gone well," the senior White House advisor told CNN
television, although she cautioned that it was
"premature" to say that the operation was "wrapped up"
since "insurgencies have a tendency to wax and wane."
The bloody onslaught is a jarring reminder of US raids
into the restive city of Fallujah , west of Baghdad ,
that claimed hundreds of lives, mostly women and
children.
The outskirts of Fallujah were smoldering again
overnight after US warplanes bombed a building,
claiming between 10 and15 "insurgents" were inside.
=====
Leo Imanov
Abdu-lLah
AllahsSlave
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