KUWAIT CITY, Nov. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Kuwaiti Muslim groups on Tuesday condemned the US assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah as "inhuman aggression" and called for an immediate end to hostilities to save the lives of innocent civilians there, newspaper Kuwait Times reported Wednesday.
A joint statement signed by Kuwait's four main Muslim Sunni and Shiite groups said the atrocities against civilians in Fallujah amounted to an "inhuman aggression not acceptable to any religion or convention and which breaches all international treaties and human rights."
"We have been following the tragic situation" caused by the US and Iraqi government forces in particular, and groups of armed men
in the city, the statement added.
"The use of excessive force including internationally forbidden arms against civilians will only lead to more oppression, chaos and dictatorship which the Iraqi people have suffered for decades," warned the statement.
The four Muslim groups also called on Iraqi, Arab and Muslim governments and international organizations to put an end to this "human tragedy" and stop attacks on other Iraqi cities.
Walleed Al-Tabtabaei, Chairman of the Kuwaiti Parliamentary Committee to Support Iraqis, was quoted as saying that "this military operation is aimed at taking revenge and not fighting terrorism or violence which has only increased after the attack."
He added that "Americans have conquered Fallujah at a huge cost of human lives while imposing a media curfew, which has poisoned the relations between the occupiers and a huge segment of Iraqis ...This may even jeopardize the January elections in Iraq."
The over week-long major assault on Iraq's rebel stronghold of Fallujah has resulted in the killing of some 1,200 insurgents and the detention of about 500, according to the US military.
However, the most wanted man of al-Qaida-linked militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi and Fallujah insurgent leader Abdullah al-Janabi, believed to be holed up in the Sunni Muslim city, have escaped.
The US military did not give word on the civilian casualties in the deadly wave of attacks, but the Iraqi Red Crescent Society has termed the situation inside Fallujah as a "humanitarian disaster." Enditem |
