NUAMIYEH, 13 April 2004 — Shells slamming into houses. Bodies buried in the gardens of homes. Snipers in mosque minarets. Iraqis who fled Fallujah after a week of fighting say they are haunted by the scenes in the city last week.
Frightened families were building makeshift shelters in palm groves outside the embattled Iraqi town of Fallujah yesterday, hoping for a lasting truce between US forces and fighters that would allow them to go home.
Wheelchair-bound Khaled Huseein looked lost and in pain as his family, one of hundreds which have been displaced, prepared to spend the night among the date palms near this village some seven kilometers south of Fallujah.
Aid began to pour into Fallujah yesterday, according to an AFP correspondent embedded with US Marines, as talks continued between Iraqi officials and leaders of the resistance aimed at ending the violence.
But the displaced people here said they were in no hurry to go home after a weeklong offensive, which saw some of the bloodiest violence since last year’s US-led invasion of Iraq, left around 600 Iraqis dead.
“I saved my children from the hell of combat and the women of my family from the sight of the American invaders,” said Hussein. Thanks to the help of a local farmer, the family of six was able to shelter in the palm grove where some 40 displaced Fallujah residents were relying on aid from the Iraqi Red Crescent and locals.
The Red Crescent estimates some 5,000 families have been displaced by the fighting. Hussein, a former officer in the Iraqi Army who is now handicapped, spent five hours struggling in his wheelchair through fields and rugged paths to escape the battle-scarred eastern districts of Fallujah.
“We arrived at a small bridge and were prevented from crossing by members of the civil defense force (US-trained Iraqi paramilitaries). Only the women and children were allowed to cross, and myself because of my handicap,” he said. “It was like the Palestinians in their exodus,” added the 52-year-old, who said he was reminded of television images he had seen of Palestinian refugees.
Roads leading into Fallujah are dotted with signposts directing displaced families to aid distribution centers. Mosques have been used as food dispensaries and makeshift medical clinics.
Hussein said he had no doubt that the Americans had “opened the gates of hell” by launching a massive crackdown on Fallujah after the gruesome murder of four US contractors there last month. The resistance “will spread and the Sunnis and the Shiites will unite against the occupiers,” he said.
In the nearby village of Zidan, three improvised tents were strung up near the road and women from several families were preparing a meal of vegetables in a black pot.
Family leader Ahmed Tamimi said the younger men of the group were taking advantage of the fragile ceasefire, declared unilaterally by US forces on Saturday. They were “inspecting our houses and getting news of our relatives,” he said, adding that people were terrified of the “American gunners”. “After several days holed up in our house, we had to leave,” he said.
In a cramped Baghdad slum dwelling now home to 35 people who have fled Fallujah, some recalled how their neighborhoods were rocked by the bloodiest fighting since a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime a year ago.
“I have lived in Fallujah for 30 years. I have never seen anything like this, what we saw every day in Fallujah last week,” said Kifaya Ilawee, an elderly woman. “One day a shell slammed into the neighbor’s front door. It was so loud. That is when we decided to leave.”
The group described US warplanes screaming overhead and helicopters firing at targets in the city, and long nights of hiding under staircases, holding their children. “Many of the bodies were buried in the sports stadium and others were buried in the gardens of homes. There is nothing else people could do. It was too dangerous for people to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones,” said Rabee.
