A Baghdad hospital visited by a team of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was in "catastrophic" state, an ICRC official said.

Staff of a Baghdad hospital treat a wounded girl that hospital sources say was hurt in a rocket attack by U.S. forces, April 11, 2003. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday it doubted any hospital in Baghdad was still working because of 'anarchy' on the city's streets. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

"The situation is chaotic and catastrophic," ICRC medical coordinator Peter Tarabula told AFP at Al-Kindi hospital, one of the biggest medical centers in Baghdad.

The hospital was looted after Saddam Hussein's authority crumbled Wednesday and US troops rolled into central Baghdad.

It was the first time in several days that the ICRC had inspected a hospital here amid the uncertain security situation in the Iraqi capital.

Twenty-five people were admitted to the hospital Friday after suffering gunshot wounds in clashes during looting in the Iraqi capital, hospital sources also told AFP.

The hospital in the east of the city has been ransacked and all staff have fled with the exception of two doctors who administer first aid but do not carry out operations.

All patients have left the hospital, one of Baghdad's largest, and Shiite fighters from the southern city of Najaf under the leadership of Sheikh Abbas al-Zubaidi have set up camp there.

Copyright 2003 AFP

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