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Of the 70 dead brought to Samarra General Hospital since fighting erupted, 23 were children and 18 were women, hospital official Abdul-Nasser Hamed Yassin said. Another 160 wounded people also were treated.
"The people who were hurt most are normal people who have nothing to do with anything," said Abdel Latif Hadi, 45.
The city hospital said two people were killed and 12 were wounded in the airstrikes. Two more people, a man and his wife, were killed and two others were wounded when a tank fired on a house, Dr. Rafe al-Issawi said.
Residents said U.S. troops built temporary checkpoints across two entrances into the city, 40 miles west of Baghdad, regarded by the U.S. military as the "toughest nut to crack" in Iraq.
"We're very worried that Fallujah might be next after Samarra," Fallujah resident Saad Majid, 40, said. "I have children. I'm very worried about them. We don't sleep all night because of the strikes."
Many took advantage of the calm to collect and bury the dead. Iraqi national guardsmen helped hospital workers put bodies into pickup trucks for transport to the cemetery. Ambulances picked up more bodies strewn in the street and orchards, and more corpses were believed to be inside collapsed buildings.
-- abcnews.go.com
-- asia1.com.sg
A US military commander said Sunday he estimated that 10 percent of the dead were civilians while local hospital officials said that percentage may be much higher.
Despite the bloodshed and destruction, Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib said the mission was the most successful to date, and hinted at more action to regain control of no-go areas ahead of the January 2005 elections.
But a leading Sunni Muslim religious group blasted the Samarra operation calling it a "massacre" and warned the interim government that its US-influenced strategy will plunge the country into more chaos.
"Who is going to respect elections paved by the blood of Iraqis and built on their skulls?" asked Sheikh Mohammed Bashar al-Faidi, spokesman for the respected Committee of Muslim Scholars, during a press conference at Baghdad's Umm al-Qura mosque.
-- news.yahoo.com
-- spacewar.com
Mourning in Samarra : A boy and a man sitting outside the local hospital in Samarra mourn the death of a relative, who was killed during battle between US soldiers and insurgents. (AFP/Jewel Samad)
U.S. Army soldiers search ruins in the ancient section of Samarra, Iraq , Monday, Oct. 4, 2004, on the fourth day of a major U.S. and Iraqi military incursion into the city. (AP Photo/Jim MacMillan)
An Iraqi woman cries after her sister and aunt were killed during clashes in the northern city of Samarra October 3, 2004. U.S.-led forces tightened their grip on the rebel-held city Samarra on Sunday in the first step of a campaign to take back all of Iraq but ignited complaints about the cost in lives and suffering. REUTERS/Akram Saleh
An unidentified mother looks after her injured child at a hospital in Tikrit, Iraq , Saturday Oct. 2, 2004. The child was reportedly injured in the U.S. offensive on Samarra and was evacuated to Tikrit. (AP Photo/ Hameed Rashid)
An unidentified youth receives treatment at a hospital in Tikrit, Iraq , Saturday Oct. 2, 2004 after he was reportedly injured in the U.S. offensive on Samarra and then evacuated to Tikrit. (AP Photo/Hameed Rashid)
Umm Salaam cries as she is denied access to her home and family at a U.S. checkpoint outside Samarra, Iraq , Saturday Oct. 2, 2004. More than 100 guerrillas were killed and 37 captured on the first day of the operation to rid the city of Samarra of insurgents, on Friday. (AP Photo/Asaad Mohessin)
An Iraqi man waves a white flag as a U.S. Army patrol passes in Samarra, Iraq , Saturday, Oct. 2, 2004. Sporadic fighting continued on the second day of a major U.S. military incursion into the city. (AP Photo/Jim MacMillan)
Iraqi men inspect a destroyed house, following a U.S. army bombardment in the town of Falluja, September 25, 2004. U.S. and Iraqi forces will retake rebel-held cities, including Falluja, Ramadi, some parts of Baghdad and the town of Samarra, in October, Iraqi Defense Minister Hazim al-Shalaan said on Sept. 29. (Mohammed Khodor/Reuters)
More photos:
A destroyed house
A destroyed house following an overnight US air strike on the city of Samarra.(AFP/File/Dia Hamid)
Iraqis look at a destroyed house
Iraqis look at a destroyed house following an overnight US air strike on the city of Samarra. At least 90 people were killed and 180 wounded as US troops and Iraqi forces charged into Samarra in a first effort to reclaim troublespots before Iraq 's planned elections, while a shocked nation buried 34 children killed by car bombs.(AFP/File/Dia Hamid)
An Iraqi policeman holds back mourning relatives and friends
An Iraqi policeman holds back mourning relatives and friends during the funeral of a policeman who was killed in yesterday's tribal clashes, in the southern Iraqi town of Basra. US and Iraqi forces claimed that one of the largest post-war military offensives in Iraq had largely subdued the rebel city of Samarra, while a fresh strike on the hotspot of Fallujah killed seven Iraqis.(AFP/Essam AL-Sudani)
Iraqi Sunni Muslims perform Friday noon prayer
Iraqi Sunni Muslims perform Friday noon prayer at Um al-Qura mosque in Baghdad. At least 100 people were killed and 180 wounded as US and Iraqi troops stormed the rebel-held city of Samarra.(AFP)