KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- The killing of hundreds of people in Fallujah was sparked off when children below the age of 16 demonstrated in the streets of the city protesting against the American occupation of their school and the invasion of Iraq, a war crime victim told a war conference, here Wednesday.

Abbas Abid, 43, said when the demonstrators reached the school, the American troops shot at these children and killed 16 of them, one of whom was his nephew.

"After the shooting, some relatives of the murdered children, decided to fight the American troops for killing their children. This occurred at a time when resistance fighters throughout Iraq began their fight against the US occupation," he said.

Presenting his statutory declaration at the three-day War Crimes International Conference organised by the Perdana Global Peace Organisation at the Putra World Trade Centre, which ends today, Abas said after the invasion by the US army in Iraq, Fallujah city was not occupied immediately by any US troop.

He said it was only about four months later that American troops entered Fallujah city and divided themselves into different groups, and they used the government buildings and schools as their military bases and/or locations. These buildings were surrounded by tall barbed wire fences.

He said the American troops allowed the Iraqi army camps and bases to be unguarded, and this lack of security enabled the people to take weapons and ammunition from these camps to protect themselves.

"This was planned by the American troops as they wanted a civil war to erupt between the Iraqi people.

"At the time, the US troops did not think that the Iraqi people would oppose the occupation and fight them and that we would welcome them as liberators. They did not understand that the Iraqi people opposed occupation and did not want foreign troops in their country," he said in a session chaired by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Abas, who is an electrical engineer, said the military operation continued for about two months and the majority of the citizens left Fallujah waiting for the end of the military operation.

When the military operation ended, the American troops could not enter the city following a deal made between the defenders and the attackers. The situation in Fallujah became a lot better and things were calmer with the people who had fled the city earlier returning to their homes.

About six months later, the American troops again attacked the city as they could not accept their earlier defeat at Fallujah, Abbas said.

"This time, the American troops used all sorts of weapons and equipment like planes, heavy tanks, heavy canons, missiles and weapons with traces of uranium. They killed a lot of people using this method.

"The football field became a cemetery to bury the Fallujah people who died. Injured Fallujah people were not allowed to be admitted into the hospital. They were left in the open to die."

Abas said the whole city was destroyed as this time the American troops destroyed a lot of houses, roads, electrical networks, underground pipes, and cut off water supply, destroyed a lot of shops and the industrial regions.

He said after the US invasion, the living condition was very bad since there was not much fuel supply for vehicles and people could not get oil, kerosene or gas for cooking and heating despite Iraq being an oil exporter.

Abas, who is one of the survivors of the Fallujah massacre, also revealed the torture he had to endure when he was detained in the Al-Jadiria prison.

He said it all started on the evening of Aug 28, 2005, when more than 15 American and Iraqi soldiers entered his brother's house and his nephew came to his house for help as his brother was not at home then.

"I welcomed the soldiers and was ready to answer any question. They told me that they were searching the house for incriminating evidence. And when they could not find anything illegal in the house, the commander turned to a table in the living room that my nephews was used for studying.

"The soldiers examined some papers on the table which were articles downloaded from the Internet from various sites - some referred to the violence in Iraq, the future of Iraq and others to political figures like Ahmed Al-Jalaby.

"The soldiers then ordered me to follow them for further questioning. I was first brought to the Al-Muthanna brigade beadquarters where they beat me up and demanded to know the names of 'terrorists' in my neighbourhood.

"I told them that I did not know any terrorist. But they did not believe me and continued to beat me. They even applied electric shocks on me and threatened to shoot me. The Americans took part in the torture and provided beer to the investigators and guards. I knew this because I could hear and understand English," he recalled.

Abas said after four weeks he was transferred to the Al-Jadiria prison and again tortured. He was hit with various tools including cables, metal pipes and metal ribbons, and the soldiers applied electric shocks on various parts of his body especially the penis.

He said no medical care was available at all, and the detainees were left to die from their injuries caused by torture.

On Sept 5 last year, he was brought to court, and the judge ruled that he should be set free for lack of evidence and a month later he was released.

-- BERNAMA