Fallujah Under Siege Again

Rome, 20 July (AKI) - US and Iraqi troops have launched another offensive on the city of Fallujah in the volatile Anbar province in western Iraq. US military leaders believe a group of guerrillas has established itself in the city once more, taking advantage of the last few months of relative calm. News of the new operation comes from aid workers from the Italian Solidarity Consortium (ICS) in Iraq, who are carrying out monitoring and humanitarian assistance programmes in the area to help the many citizens displaced by the last military offensive on the city, which began in November last year.

In the last few days there have been a number of explosions in Fallujah, a statement from the ICS aid workers says, and the multinational force has closed the city, to comb it house by house. This has sparked another mass exodus of civilians. Hundreds of families have already abandoned the city, they report, "further worsening the humanitarian emergency."