Fallujah raids left 500 children hurt

FALLUJAH, Iraq, April 13 (UPI) -- At least 500 Iraqi children are disabled or handicapped in the wake of U.S. assaults on Fallujah, a children's advocacy group says.

Alaa Hamed of the Society for the Welfare of Children said military operations in Fallujah, located about 40 miles west of Baghdad, caused "massive destruction," leaving at least 500 children under 5 mentally or physically handicapped, the Iraqi daily newspaper Azaman reported on its English-language Web site Sunday.

Hamed said his group reached out to international aid organizations to transfer the children to hospitals in Jordan for treatment, saying they were neglected by U.S. and Iraqi officials.

The U.S. military launched a massive assault on Fallujah in 2004 to drive out al-Qaida and other insurgent elements but the city has changed hands several times since then.