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Rutba hospital bombed { March 31 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2003/03/31/55155-cp.html http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2003/03/31/55155-cp.html Mon, March 31, 2003 Peace activists confirm hospital bombing By DENNIS BUECKERT OTTAWA (CP) - A group of peace activists, including a Canadian, is getting media calls from around the world after providing the first confirmation of a hospital being bombed in Iraq. Lia Wilson, a volunteer with Christian Peacemaker Teams who recently left Baghdad, said the group was cited in a UN press briefing as having confirmed the bombing, and calls have been flooding in ever since. Coalition forces have been trying to minimize civilian casualties, and there haven't been previous reports of hospitals getting hit. "Apparently they had absolutely zero international eyewitnesses to the bombing and the UN could not confirm that it had been bombed," Wilson said in a telephone interview from Amman, Jordan. "We are the only people that have been able to confirm it." Wilson, 22, said she did not know whether it would have been possible to identify the building as a hospital from the air. "It makes absolutely no sense to us, because there's no nothing near it, no possible target that would be near it," she said. Wilson entered Baghdad last week but she and six others were expelled for taking pictures without permission. The group was travelling in three taxis, along an almost deserted highway, when a tire blew on one of their taxis, causing it to flip into a ditch. The injured were taken to the town of Rutba, off the main road, in search of medical help. When they asked for the local hospital, people pointed to pile of rubble. "They grabbed us by the arm and said, 'Tell the people in America about this, tell everyone about this,' because we were the first people that had been there in three days." They got medical help from a doctor at an improvised four-bed facility. One member of the group was given 10 stitches in the head with no anesthetic because the doctor had none. Wilson said the trip out of Baghdad was far scarier than the trip in last week. There was scarcely any traffic and the taxi drivers were nervous. They saw no Iraqi soldiers on the highway, a big change from her journey into Baghdad. But there were planes overhead and they saw one bomb land near Rutba. Since making it to Amman, members have of the group have been interviewed by CNN, CBS, the BBC and news organizations from France and Japan, Wilson said. Christian Peacemaker Teams are volunteers who go into zones of conflict to support local people, and to provide information to outsiders. There are still some activists in Baghdad, including five Canadians, but it has become impossible to reach them since telephone facilities in the city were bombed. Filmmaker and freelance journalist Sacha Trudeau, son of the late prime minister Pierre Trudeau, is also in the city and believed safe.

1700 iraqi civilian deaths { May 18 2003 } 36 dead civilians bahgdad bombing { March 27 2003 } 4000 dead civilians one week { March 27 2003 } 50 die market blast Accuses us targeting civilians Baghdad blasts kill 17 civilians { March 27 2003 } Baghdad hospital bombed { April 2 2003 } Baghdad market world cries { March 29 2003 } Baghdad marketplace hit Bathed in blood { April 6 2003 } Bloody checkpoint marines weeping { April 6 2003 } Bombed maternity hospital Boy without arms [jpg] Boy without arms2 [jpg] Chick got in the way { March 29 2003 } Children die checkpoint { April 1 2003 } Cluster bombs liberate children Concern grows for iraqi civilians { April 6 2003 } Counting iraqis dead { March 25 2003 } Cruise missile residential area { March 26 2003 } Denies targeting baghdad marketplace Errant missile hits iran { March 22 2003 } Excessive force cluster bombs { April 1 2003 } Explosions dismemberd iraqis { April 3 2003 } Face of war [jpg] Forces kill 7 woman children High civilian death toll { May 22 2003 } Hilla hospital cluster bombs { April 3 2003 } Hit marketplace 3 26 03 [jpg] Hospitals overwhelmed Humanitarian effort disaster { April 7 2003 } Hundreds reported dead Iran says building hit { March 22 2003 } Iraq shows casualties hospital { April 3 2003 } Iraqi civilian deaths 10 000 Iraqi wounded too high to count Marketplace death us missile { April 2 2003 } Mirror appeal boy without arms Missile strikes baghdad market friday Missile strikes house family { March 25 2003 } Nasiriya bridge slaughter { March 31 2003 } Outrage over damage homes cluster bombs Proof marketplace us missile Rutba hospital bombed { March 31 2003 } Saddam bombs hit homes Slaughter bridge death Target baghdad marketplace Tours hospitals wounded Vegetable market bombed Women children killed highway9 { April 1 2003 } Files Listed: 50

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