The Jordanian Health Ministry started making contacts with pharmaceutical companies to provide medicine to the Iraqi people through Iraqi hospitals, Petra said.

On the same day, Jordanian Health Minister Waleed Ma'ani said in a statement that Jordan was ready to set up field hospitals in Iraq if necessary.

He said that the Jordanian Red Crescent will soon send three trucks laden with medicine to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, adding Jordan had previously established field hospitals in Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories.

Reports said earlier that hospitals in Baghdad were incapable of offering treatment to numerous injured people, and workers of the International Committee of the Red Cross was prevented from providing assistance due to the volatile situation there.

Amid signs of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's crippling rule, looters ransacked government buildings in Baghdad Wednesday morning while many residents took to the streets to welcome US troops.

Defying international opposition, the United States and Britain launched a war against Iraq on March 20 in a bid to topple Saddam.

Iraq has denounced the invaders as "criminals" and "villains," while urging the international community to stop the "aggression" unconditionally.

(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2003)