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Most fallujah victims are women children Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-04/12/article05.shtmlhttp://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-04/12/article05.shtml
Most Of Fallujah Victims Women, Children: Report
By Ahmad Maher, IOL Staff
CAIRO, April 12 (IslamOnline.net) – Most of the Iraqis killed in the week-long U.S. occupation offensive into the restive town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, are children and women, an Iraqi dentist in the besieged town revealed Monday, April 12.
Osama Saleh Al-Tikrit belied U.S. claims that 95 percent of the victims were resistance fighters, saying the entire world “has got used to the American lies”.
“I was in Fallujah before Sunday ceasefire and I saw with my own eyes many civilians and ordinary people lying dead on the streets,” Tikriti, a dentist at Baghdad hospital, told IslamOnline.net over the phone.
He was referring to a 12-hour ceasefire reached Sunday, April 11, by the U.S. occupation troops and Iraqi fighters in Fallujah and extended Monday for another 24 hours.
He said at least 600 people were killed and up to 1500 others wounded in the U.S. sweep, citing a tally released by the town’s hospital, which was struck last week.
U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Brennan Byrne claimed Sunday, April 11, that most the dead –- 95 percent -- were “insurgents” picked off with precision by U.S. marines.
“The dead, mostly children and women, are not militiamen or resistance fighters but rather ordinary people, who stood up to the U.S. occupation troops to defend their homeland,” Tikriti retorted.
He said the residents braved the U.S. high-tech and sophisticated weaponry with small arms and home-made bombs.
“Their unshakable faith is their weapon in the face of the U.S. military juggernaut,” Tikriti, who is no in Baghdad, added.
“The courageous residents of Fallujah defied the cluster bombs and F-16s, setting themselves up as a paradigm for resistance” to other Iraqi cities and towns, he said.
He noted that the U.S. troops were also targeting ambulances and civilians walking on the street before the lull in fighting.
“Buses laden with families were hit by U.S. troops as they tried to force their way out of the town before the truce,” Tikriti said.
Scores of Fallujah residents seized on the current truce to flee the conflictive town to Baghdad.
Limbo
Tikriti also said the U.S. occupation troops are in a real limbo, thanks to the stiff resistance of the Iraqi fighters nationwide.
“The U.S. occupation troops were dying for a truce and not vice versa,” Tikriti said, adding resistance fighters have cut off all land supplies of the U.S. occupation forces.
He said all Iraqi cities are now “Fallujah” as resistance operations spilled over into many Iraqi cities.
“We are talking now about many Falljuahs…All Iraqis are resisting the U.S. occupation troops with what their hands could reach,” Tikriti added.
Fallujah has been under a crippling U.S. siege since last Monday, April 5, as its residents are determined to kick out the occupation troops.
Fallujah fighters gave Monday U.S. Marine snipers a 1200 GMT (until 4:00 p.m. Baghdad time) ultimatum to leave the besieged town or face a renewed all-out offensive.
At least 60 Americans have lost their lives in Iraq over the past week alone, taking to 667 the number of U.S. military deaths since the start of the war to occupy oil-rich Iraq.
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