Red Cross reports "dozens" of corpses after US attack
The Jerusalem Post

April 2, 2003

The international Red Cross said Wednesday its staff saw the bodies of dozens of people, including women and children, at a town south of Baghdad where Iraqi officials claim US helicopters attacked a residential neighborhood.

At least 280 injured are being treated in Hillah Surgical Hospital, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad, said Florian Westphal, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"The dead bodies and the nature of the injuries would suggest that at least some of them are the result of bombing," Westphal said.

Iraqi officials said Tuesday that US Apache helicopters attacked a neighborhood in Hillah, killing 33 people and injuring more than 300. The US Central Command said it was investigating the claim.

Westphal said he understood many of the casualties came from fighting over the past 48 hours in the town of Hindiya, into which US Army troops fought their way on Monday, capturing dozens of members of President Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard.