Jumaili, a doctor at the main Falluja hospital who escaped arrest when it was taken on Monday, said the city was running out of supplies and only a few clinics remained open. "There is not a single surgeon in Falluja. We had one ambulance hit by U.S. fire and a doctor wounded. There are scores of injured civilians in their homes whom we can't move. "A 13-year-old child just died in my hands," he said by telephone from a house where he had gone to help the wounded. The government sees Falluja and its sister city of Ramadi as rebel havens that must be retaken before January elections. Allawi urged the gunmen in Falluja to lay down their weapons to spare it from further attacks, his spokesman told reporters near Falluja. "The political solution is possible even if military operations are ongoing," spokesman Thaer al-Naqib said. The authorities have appointed a temporary military governor for Falluja, Major-General Abdul Qadar Mohammed Jassim, the commander of the military operations in Falluja, he added. Jassim's name was earlier given differently by officials. Defence experts believe that while U.S. forces have the muscle to win the battle of Falluja, victory still may not deal a lasting blow to the insurgency in Iraq. "It may not take long to capture the city, but nothing will have been resolved. It will be a symbolic victory," French military strategist Jean-Louis Dufour said. --SP 2124 Local Time 1824 GMT
