Reports of more people leaving al-Qaim

More families are reportedly leaving the western Iraqi town of al-Qaim in fear because of fighting, according to local aid agencies. Hundreds of families remain displaced on the outskirts of the town, 320 km west of the capital, Baghdad, following clashes between US forces and insurgents in the second week of May. According to the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) nearly a thousand families were displaced and living in the desert of al-Jazera'a, west of al-Qaim but were returning when the offensive ended, leaving only 100 families there. However, aid workers now say that hundreds more have started to flee the town again because of the possibility of another conflict starting in coming days. "We have indications that fighting might start again in the town of al-Qaim. Maybe it's just a psychological response from the people in the town but many reports from volunteers are saying the same thing," general secretary of the IRCS, Mazeen Sallon told IRIN in Baghdad. A US military spokesman told IRIN that they had been checking the area around al-Qaim and this did not mean that another battle was going to take place. The IRCS sent a convoy of supplies into al-Qaim and to the desert of al-Jazera'a on Tuesday morning. Mattresses, food parcels and medical first aid kits are going to be delivered to more than 1,000 families displaced in the desert and others who have now returned to the town. "We are going to supply those families as their stocks have finished and if there is another conflict at least they will have something to eat. When a battle starts you never know if the borders of the town will be open," Sallon added. "We should prepare ourselves for any new attack," he continued. Two makeshift medical centres have been set up by local doctors in the town and are supported by the IRCS. A doctor in al-Qaim,Ibrahim Salman, told IRIN from the town that there had been no outbreak of disease but an increase in diarrhoea among infants through the consumption of dirty water in the desert. Direct contact with rubbish in the area has also been recounted. "We reported cases of snake or scorpion bites in the desert. The area is filled with them and it could happen to others," Salman said. "We had a lack of supplies before the battle started and it has worsened now. We should thank the IRCS for helping us with some emergency medicines but we are still in need of much more," he added. A senior official at the Ministry of Health (MoH) told IRIN that they had not received any figures on the number of dead or injured from al-Qaim but according to their information, very few civilians had been injured. Information from local doctors conflicts with this, suggesting that 94 people were killed and 156 injured during the battles in the town. Examinations for primary and secondary school students in the area have been postponed, according to local teachers. "We cannot conclude our curriculum in the middle of this situation. We will have to postpone for our, and their, security until we are sure that there is safety and until the students who fled the town return back," primary school teacher in al-Qaim, Yasmin Sardawi told IRIN. The United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) also reported that the situation was not conducive for children to sit exams. UNAMI and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) convened an emergency working group to coordinate the response of humanitarian agencies in the town. Information is being shared and responses coordinated to ensure that resources reach those most in need.