UN, Red Cross alarmed by civilian casualties in Iraq - US using cluster bombs on civilians

UN, Red Cross alarmed by civilian casualties in Iraq
2 hours, 45 minutes ago

GENEVA (AFP) - International aid agencies said they were alarmed by the number of civilian casualties in the war in Iraq (news - web sites) and their inability to reach many of the wounded.

"At the moment in Iraq the biggest public health problem is the level of civilian causalties, there is no question about that," Iain Simpson, a spokesman for the World Health Organisation (WHO) told journalists Friday.

"The reports from Baghdad, Karbala and Hilla are very worrying indeed," he said, insisting that aid agencies needed access to Iraq to help the wounded.

Simpson's comments were echoed by other agencies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

"What concerns us most in Iraq at the moment are the threats to safety and health of civilians, the two things are closely linked," Antonella Notari, an ICRC spokeswoman said.

"With particular incidents or any observations on the way war is waged, we continue to have talks with the warring parties, but confidentially," Notari insisted.

Apart from providing aid, the ICRC also has an internationally-recognised role as the guardian of the Geneva Conventions, which protect civilians, wounded combatants and prisoners of war during conflicts.

Notari said the ICRC's staff in Baghdad was now cut off from a hospital at Hilla, south of Baghdad, where they had found 300 wounded.

The aid agencies were unable to give an estimate of the number of people killed or wounded during the war.

They also voiced concern about the use of cluster bombs.

Notari underlined that the munitions -- clusters of small bomblets used against troop concentrations and artillery -- were not outlawed.

But she warned that armies using them were responsible for clearing any unexploded cluster bombs.

"I do notice that British forces confirmed the use of cluster bombs outside of Basra," Notari said.

"In keeping with international humanitarian law we always appeal that they be used well outside places where civilians live and work," she added.

WHO said it had reports from northern Iraq of 35 injuries caused by unexploded ordinance around the city of Sulaymaniya over the past two weeks.

"Unexploded ordinance very often means the bomblets that come from cluster bombs, these are a very serious problem already," Simpson said.

On Tuesday, an AFP correspondent at Hilla saw what seemed to be the parts of cluster bombs peppered over a large area.

Hospital officials and witnesses said 48 civilians had died in a bombardment of the area by coalition forces.