GENEVA – Red Cross workers saw the bodies of dozens of people -- including women and children -- at a town south of Baghdad where Iraqi officials claim U.S. helicopters attacked a residential neighborhood, the International Red Cross reported Wednesday.
At least 280 injured people are being treated at the Hillah Surgical Hospital, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, said Florian Westphal, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
"The dead bodies and the nature of the injuries would suggest that at least some of them are the result of bombing," Westphal said.
Iraqi officials said Tuesday that U.S. Apache helicopters attacked a neighborhood in Hillah, killing 33 people and injuring more than 300.
The U.S. Central Command said it was investigating the claim.
Westphal said many of the casualties came from fighting over the past 48 hours in the town of Hindiyah. U.S. Army troops fought their way into the town on Monday, capturing dozens of members of President Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard.
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