Baghdad Collapses Into Anarchy and Violence
Updated 7:09 AM ET April 11, 2003

By Hassan Hafidh

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Armed men roamed the streets of Baghdad and looting spread across the city on Friday as the Iraqi capital descended into anarchy.

U.S. troops who ended Saddam Hussein's rule on Wednesday mostly stood by as the Trade Ministry burned, gunmen swarmed though buildings unchallenged in the absence of any government or police, and looters made off with their booty.

A youth wearing a red baseball cap back-to-front brandished an AK-47 assault rifle by the side of a main road in the center of the city, waiting for a passing car to hijack.

A Reuters correspondent who drove past the young man saw him shoot the driver of the car behind, drag him out his new pickup trunk and drive away in it. It was not clear whether the driver was killed or simply wounded.

"The situation has become worse since yesterday. It is anarchy," one Reuters correspondent said.

Another who toured the city said: "The looters are armed and are shooting at people. There are a lot of guns in the streets."

Reuters Television cameraman Ahmed Bahaddou filmed Arab paramilitaries shooting at civilians in the street. One then turned to him and stuck the barrel of his AK-47 in his face and told him to stop filming.

Criticism of U.S. troops mounted as they again failed to prevent the looting that began as they pushed into the city on Wednesday, ending Saddam's 24-year rule.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said some small hospitals had closed and some big hospitals were inaccessible.

"Our great worry is the situation of chaotic insecurity in Baghdad. We don't know how much of the infrastructure and medical services are still functioning," said Nada Doumani, ICRC spokeswoman in Geneva.

"We hope that the perimeters of these facilities can be secured by the Americans. Under the Geneva Conventions, it is up to the occupying forces to impose law and order," she said, referring to the 1949 treaty aimed at protecting civilians.

FEARFUL RELATIVES

President Bush promised Iraqis in a videotaped message on Thursday that the United States and its war allies would help maintain law and order. A spokesman said it would take time for the security situation to stabilize.

That did little or nothing to calm the people of Baghdad.

Hundreds of anxious civilians thronged outside the military intelligence headquarters hoping to rescue relatives they feared had been trapped in underground jails without food for days. Some began digging to try to find their trapped relatives.

"I am afraid the people in here are going to die. The Americans must come and help us," said a man in the crowd who gave his name as Mohammed Saleh.

Another man, Fayed Assour, said: "They arrested three of my brothers in the 1980s and I am looking for them."

Sporadic shooting broke out in various parts of the city.

U.S. military sources said local gunmen had fired on Iraqi Fedayeen militia in Saddam City, a sprawling, largely Shi'ite district in northeast Baghdad. Shi'ites were disadvantaged under long Sunni rule, including the last three decades under Saddam.

Some mosques did not hold traditional Muslim Friday prayers. One worshipper blamed the Americans.

"This is what the Americans want to do. They want to ban Islam," said Saad Isa, a man in his fifties.

The United States has dismissed such charges, saying it wants Iraqis to rule their own country after a period of interim government.