BAGHDAD - A Baghdad hospital visited Friday by a team of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was in "catastrophic" state, an ICRC official said.
"The situation is chaotic and catastrophic," ICRC medical coordinator Peter Tarabula said at Al-Kindi hospital, one of the biggest medical centers in Baghdad.
The hospital was looted after Saddam Hussein's authority crumbled Wednesday and US troops rolled into central Baghdad.
It was the first time in several days that the ICRC had inspected a hospital here amid the uncertain security situation in the Iraqi capital.
Twenty-five people were admitted to the hospital Friday after suffering gunshot wounds in clashes during looting in the Iraqi capital, hospital sources also said.
The hospital in the east of the city has been ransacked and all staff have fled with the exception of two doctors who administer first aid but do not carry out operations.
All patients have left the hospital, one of Baghdad's largest, and Shiite fighters from the southern city of Najaf under the leadership of Sheikh Abbas al-Zubaidi have set up camp there.
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