Sun, Apr 13, 2003 - Page 1 News List

Frenzy of looting grips Baghdad

STATE OF ANARCHY US Marines have set up round-the-clock patrols in the capital and plan to impose a curfew in an effort to stop looting and restore a sense of order

REUTERS , BAGHDAD AND PARIS

Lead elements of the 30,000-strong 4th Infantry Division moved into Iraq from Kuwait yesterday -- the only US division in the area yet to see any action.

US sources have indicated that the 4th Infantry will be sent to Tikrit, where senior supporters of Saddam are believed to be preparing a last stand.

Some people have suggested that Saddam himself might be hiding in Tikrit, although others believe he might have died in a bombing raid on Baghdad last week.

Humanitarian officials have warned that widespread disorder in Iraqi cities threatens to snarl delivery of badly needed aid, while the Red Cross said Baghdad's medical system had all but collapsed due to combat damage, looting and fear of anarchy.

Two US C-130 transport planes flew 20 tonnes of medical supplies from Kuwait to Baghdad late Friday -- among the first equipment and medicine to reach the city since Saddam's fall.

US forces took control of a security stronghold in the west of the city yesterday, where militia and foreign volunteers from across the Arab world had been holding out.

The US hopes to bring together a wide variety of Iraqis next week to decide who will initially govern a country divided among the majority Shiite Muslims, the minority Sunni Muslims who have long ruled and separatist Kurds in the north.

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