Blood donation for Iraq

MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi: The Red Cross office at the South Sulawesi capital Makassar have collected 300 bags of blood donations from locals who want to help Iraqi war victims.

"When the war in Iraq raged, the Muslim and non Muslim community here came to the South Sulawesi Red Cross office to have their blood taken as a show of solidarity toward the oppressed people of Iraq," said the province's Red Cross head Andi Nurdin Mappewali on Monday.

Thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed or injured in the Gulf war which broke out late March. Fighting stopped since mid April, but many hospitals in Baghdad and other Iraq cities still face various shortcomings to treat wounded people.

Andi said that the local Red Cross office was waiting for its headquarter in Jakarta to pick up the 300 bags. -- Antara