Voices from Falluja

US forces are locked in fierce battle against insurgents in the Iraqi city of Falluja. People from the city have been giving the BBC their account of what’s been going on.

Hamid Flewa, lawyer and Falluja resident:

We heard a lot overnight [on Wednesday] and the bombing intensified at dawn. [Wednesday’s] onslaught affected most districts in the city.

There are bodies strewn in the streets and most families were forced to bury the dead in their gardens. I can see lines of bodies alongside the pavement.

I’m talking to you from the centre of the city. I am with my family. But we have no water or electricity.

We are going through our food supplies very quickly. No more food can reach the city.

Falluja is closed off. There is no escape. We are all surrounded. I hope my appeal will reach our British and American brothers, that this city has not just landed from another planet.

We are human beings. This is an Iraqi city. Why should we have to go through this? I am just lost for words.

Yunis Daoud, Falluja resident:

The situation in Falluja is very bad. It’s been bombed extremely hard, destroying the streets and mosques.

They hit a second hospital [on Tuesday], killing everyone. There are dead bodies in the streets. People have been burying their dead in the gardens of their homes.

Everywhere you go there is great fear. My family left the house before the bombing but my friends and I stayed.

We didn’t think the air strikes would be this strong. We were so scared this morning, we escaped across the Euphrates in small vessels and along country roads that the Americans have not yet discovered.

It was a very dangerous thing to do. We were at risk of getting killed at any moment.

Fadhil Badrani, journalist:

There are more dead bodies on the streets and the stench is getting stronger.

A house some doors from mine was hit during the bombardment last night. A 13-year-old boy was killed.

It is very dangerous to try to leave the city at the moment.

We are completely cut off from the outside world - no electricity, no water.

People are dying from their injuries because there is nowhere to go for treatment.

A clinic that was serving as the last hospital in the city was bombed two nights ago.

Some families have begun burying their dead in gardens and backyards.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4003877.stm