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Relief Trucks Leave Jordan

Relief Trucks Leave Jordan


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AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- At least 60 trucks left Jordan on Wednesday to deliver flour and medical supplies in neighboring Iraq.

A U.S. military plane also flew thousands of meal packets into northern Iraq from Germany, and Arab leaders pledged millions of dollars in aid.

Jordan's government sent 11 trucks with medical supplies. In addition, 50 trucks carrying flour donated by the World Food Program left the Jordanian border post of al-Karameh.

Health Minister Waleed al-Maa'ni said the shipment of 88 tons of medicine was donated by his agency and included antibiotics, pain killers, burn ointments and gauze.

The supplies were going to al-Kharkh hospital in Baghdad for distribution to other Iraqi hospitals, al-Maa'ni told The Associated Press. He said another medical shipment would leave Thursday.

Al-Maa'ni said a team of experts also went with the trucks to scout for sites for the setting up of two field hospitals that Jordan's King Abdullah II wants to send.

International relief groups say Iraqi hospitals are running out of medicine.

Also on Wednesday, an American C-17 military transport plane flew more than 38,000 ready-to-eat meal packets to Iraq from the 86th Airlift Wing based in Ramstein, Germany. The packets will be distributed to civilians. More flights are planned.

In Saudi Arabia, Prince Talal bin Abdul-Aziz said he would donate $1 million to U.N. agencies working in Iraq "to promote humanitarian relief efforts and help children, women and the groups most harmed" by the war.

Last week, the Saudi Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation donated $2.6 million to help Iraqis, and the kingdom has given $80 million for Red Crescent relief operations in Iraq.

Bahrain has sent five tons of clothes to hospitals in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the Bahrain Red Crescent Society said.

A ship carrying 12,000 blankets left the Spanish port of Valencia for Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba. The shipment was donated by the Spanish Red Cross and is expected to arrive in Jordan in 10 days.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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