"The ICRC urgently appeals to the coalition forces and all other persons in authority to do everything possible to protect essential infrastructure, such as hospitals and water supply and evacuation systems, from looting and destruction," the Geneva-based organization said in a statement.

The ICRC said it was "profoundly alarmed by the chaos currently prevailing in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq."

It noted that coalition forces had "specific responsibilities as occupying powers", including "taking all measures in their power to restore and maintain, as far as possible, public order and safety by putting an halt to pillage and to violence against civilians and civilian facilities."

In Baghdad, shopkeepers shot at looters as the city plunged into anarchy. Looting broke out in other towns and cities abandoned by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime.

SPACE.WIRE