Azzaman, December 12, 2006

At least eight children have died and seven women have had miscarriages in the town of al-Sinya which invading U.S. troops have put under siege for more than 50 days.

Sinya is close to Baiji, one of the scores of anti-U.S. strongholds in the country.

The town’s nearly 50,000 inhabitants are now without running water and food supplies are running dangerously low.

But the occupiers seem to be determined to proceed with their mass punishment and are turning away aid convoys.

Pregnant women are denied access to the maternity hospital in Baiji and many others now risk miscarriage.

The siege is fuelling anger among the inhabitants of the Province of Saladdeen and in Tikreet, the provincial capital, there have been several demonstrations denouncing U.S. troops.