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sundayherald.com
Inside Fallujah: one family’s diary of terror
Last week the US launched a major offensive on Fallujah using heavy artillery, bulldozers and tanks. The target was insurgents, but here one family reveals the horror of being caught in the conflict
By Dahr Jamail in Baghdad
She weeps while telling the story. The abaya (tunic) she wears cannot hide the shaking of her body as waves of grief roll through her. “I cannot get the image out of my mind of her foetus being blown out of her body.”
Muna Salim’s sister, Artica, was seven months’ pregnant when two rockets from US warplanes struck her home in Fallujah on November 1. “My sister Selma and I only survived because we were staying at our neighbours’ house that night,” Muna continued, unable to reconcile her survival while eight members of her family perished during the pre-assault bombing of Fallujah that had dragged on for weeks.
Khalid, one of their brothers who was also killed in the attack, has left behind a wife and five young children.
“There were no fighters in our area, so I don’t know why they bombed our home,” said Muna. “When it began there were full assaults from the air and tanks attacking the city, so we left from the eastern side of Fallujah and came to Baghdad.” |
