52 Iraqis dead as Falluja engulfed in fighting: 

Fierce street battles are raging in Falluja between resistance fighters defending the town and US occupation forces, who are launching missile attacks in and around residential areas.

Ahmad Mansur

04/07/04 "Aljazeera" -- Hospital sources say at least 52 Iraqis have died in attacks since Tuesday in the besieged town which American forces sealed off on Sunday, reported Aljazeera's correspondent Ahmad Mansur. More than 100 others, including children, have been injured.

Twenty-six of those killed were from one family.

Speaking live from a rooftop in the tense town, Mansur said the hospital is struggling to cope with the rising casualties. 

"They are attacking residential neighbourhoods," he said as US warplanes swooped over the area and fired rockets. Intense gunfire could be heard from the streets. 

"The residents of Falluja are asking where is the (US-appointed) Iraqi Governing Council," said an obviously shaken Mansur. "They are asking why the Iraqis are not protecting them."

Plea for help

"Residents of Falluja call on the Arab world to intervene and lift the siege on this town of 300,000. They ask where are the Arab leaders in this time?" he said before throwing himself to the ground as a plane flew overhead. 

Falluja has come under fierce US attack in the past three days as occupation forces sealed off the town, a centre for anti-occupation activity, in an effort to crush the resistance. 

US marines tried for a third time to take control of the town but were forced to retreat.

The Aljazeera crew, including cameramen Layf Muftaq and Hasan Walid, sound engineer Sayf al-Din and correspondent Hamid Hadid, are the only media personnel inside the town. 

Since the closure was imposed on Sunday, 91 Iraqis have been killed and dozens more injured.

US forces besieged the town after last week's ambush in which four security guards were killed and their bodies mutilated and dragged through the streets by Iraqi mobs.

Copyright: Aljazeera