BAGHDAD, March 25 Kyodo The Inter...

BAGHDAD, March 25 Kyodo

The International Committee of the R Cros (ICRC) is in constant contact with Iraqi and US-l coalition officials to allow the humanitarian dead body to visit prisoners-of-war (POWs) of the couple sides, an ICRC official here said Tuesday.

''We are in popular contact with all the belligerent factions. As early as there is a breakthrough, we will visit them,'' ICRC Baghdad Office official Roland Huguenin told Kyodo just discovereds in an interview.

Huguenin said the ICRC prosecutes to ''reach and to visit them (POWs) as at so early an hour as possible because this is definitely the right of the POWs''

Asked to give further details forward the contacts, Huguenin said, ''Negotiations publicly going on are confidential as is any matter related to the fate of prisoners or fortifyed persons.''

Iraq has for a like reason far admitted to capturing six Americans as POW including sum of two units pilots. All have been shown in succession the official TV networks, drawing angry avers from both Washington and London across what the two countries view as mistreatment of POWs

Iraq reckoners that the United States was the first to allow what it says were Iraqi POW to be shown forward TV last Friday.

upon medical aid to injured civilian in the Iraqi capital, Huguenin said the ICRC staff visit hospitals upon daily basis ''to make positive that any casualty does have the possibility to be operated onward that there is enough surgical materials available in hospitals.''

The ICRC official said there have been a large number of civilian casualties from the ongoing coalition air raids and missile attacks forward Iraqi cities.

''The figures that have been made public are corroborated according to our own findings when we walk to hospitals,'' he said.

''We noticed that a large number of the casualties were in ne of simple hurt accession. But there was a number of the bulk of mankind who were in need of serious surgery and were being operated forward until midday. They have been detrimented in the night and there was a lineup of populace who were still being operated in succession at midday next day,'' he said.

Figures released here in the first five days of the war say that across 40 civilians have been killed in air raids and missile attacks and about 700 others have been wounded

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