Aid agencies and UN officials are growing increasingly concerned about the fate of more than 200,000 Iraqis who fled their homes before the US-led assault on Falluja.

At least 210,000 Iraqis are now living as refugees in deteriorating conditions and are unlikely to be able to return to their badly damaged city for several weeks, according to reports compiled by a UN-led emergency working group.

Families fled to at least nine villages in the desert around Falluja in the weeks before the assault began last month. Others are staying in Baghdad, often with relatives. At least 100 families are camped out at Baghdad University mosque. Access to the refugees "remains sporadic due to insecurity and military operations", said the latest report.

"Shortages in fresh food items and cooking fuel have also been reported. The temperature has dropped, underscoring an urgent need for winterisation items and appropriate shelter," it said.

US troops still maintain a tight cordon around Falluja as they move from house to house, searching for insurgents and removing arms stores.

Over the summer, Falluja had become a bastion of the insurgency and too dangerous for US or Iraqi troops to patrol.

Water and electricity supplies are still cut off and the city's general hospital, the first target seized in the assault, remains under US military control, the report said.

Al-Rawda al-Mohammadia mosque has been turned into an aid centre that residents can use for only four hours each morning. One of Falluja's main health clinics was destroyed in the assault.

In another report a fortnight ago, the working group suggested that residents would not be allowed to return for some time. "Some reports are now suggesting that return to Falluja may take a matter of months rather than days, as was previously suggested by multi-national forces," it said.

It is believed that residents will be allowed back one neighbourhood at a time, once their area has been cleared by the US military. The Iraqi government plans to bring in by bus the heads of each family so that they can assess the damage to their houses. Television reports from the city suggest that hundreds of homes have been destroyed or severely damaged.

Only the Iraqi Red Crescent society has been able to enter the city, bringing convoys of food, medicine and blankets. The International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday that it was ready to send an aid mission into Falluja, but was waiting for an improvement in security.

© Copyright 2004 Guardian Newspapers

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