Sunday 21 November 2004 - Residents of neighbouring Saqlawiya village have told Aljazeera that they helped bury the bodies of 73 women and children who were burned beyond recognition.

"We buried them here, but we could not identify them because they were charred by the use of napalm bombs used by the Americans," said one Saqlawiya resident in footage aired on Sunday.

There have been no reports of the US military using napalm in Falluja and no independent verification of the above statements.

It remains unclear how the women and children were killed.

The resident, who helped in the burial, told Aljazeera all of the bodies were buried in one mass grave.

Late last week, US troops in Falluja called on some residents who had fled the fighting to return and help bury the dead. However, according to other residents who managed to flee the fighting after US forces entered the city, hundreds of bodies still lay in the streets and were being fed on by packs of wild dogs.

Danger zone

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Falluja remained too dangerous to secure proper retrieval and burial of corpses.

"We could not enter Falluja city so far due to the security measures and the continuing battles," Muain Qasis, ICRC spokesman in Jordan, told Aljazeera.

When asked about the security measures, Qasis said: "In order to carry out an independent and acceptable humanitarian action, we must have guarantees ensuring the safety of the humanitarian staff.

"The humanitarian situation in Falluja city is very difficult.

"The city is still suffering shortage of public services. There is no water or electricity. There is no way to offer medical treatment for the injured families still surrounded inside the city," he added.

Detained civilians released

In related news, the US military in Falluja announced that it had released 400 of the 1450 men it had detained in the war-ravaged city.

"More than 400 detainees have since been released after being deemed to be non-combatants," the military said, adding than 100 more were due to be released on Sunday.

Aljazeera + Agencies