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ICRC resumes work in Baghdad
The ICRC said its ability to carry out operations in Baghdad had improved on Thursday, one day after it was forced to suspend work.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its ability to carry out operations in Baghdad had improved on Thursday, one day after it was forced briefly to suspend work due to widespread fighting.
"The situation has changed drastically since yesterday," ICRC spokesman Roland Huguenin-Benjamin in Baghdad told CNN.
"Then we were very worried about the evacuation of war casualties. This is no longer a problem," he said, making clear that the Geneva-based agency had resumed its operations.
But Huguenin-Benjamin said the ICRC remained concerned by what he called "the widespread attacks and looting going on" after US forces seized central Baghdad. US troops are still battling Iraqis and volunteer fighters from other Arab countries in various parts of the capital.
"The hospitals themselves have come under attack for the purpose of looting. There are lots of people carrying weapons around and they make it very difficult for civilians in need of medical care to actually reach the hospitals," he said.
On Wednesday, the ICRC temporarily suspended its operations, citing a "chaotic and unpredictable" situation in the capital.
An ICRC Canadian staff member was shot dead when the vehicle he was travelling in was caught in crossfire.
A spokesman at Central Command headquarters in Qatar said on Thursday US Marines had beaten off a threat from Iraqi forces on the Baghdad headquarters of the ICRC.
"The First Marine Division attacked enemy forces that were posing a direct threat to the International Committee of the Red Cross and International Aid Organisation headquarters...in Baghdad," Captain Frank Thorp told reporters.
"The area was secured and the Marines' intervention prevented the disruption of ICRC operations and patient care," he added. "I don't know if it was a hospital or a clinic but people were being treated there."
He said there were no reports of casualties.
