War on the streets: An Iraqi tank rolls past panicked civilians, heading for combat against coalition forces now fighting in the heart of Baghdad.
Picture: AFP
1000 Iraqis die in street battles
06apr03
THE BATTLE for Baghdad was in progress last night after US armour and troops entered the besieged city.
Street battles raged as dozens of US Abrams battle tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, soldiers and marines advanced into several zones across the capital in what officers called "rolling patrols".
US forces were sighted at Saddam Bridge next to Baghdad University, 1.5km from a presidential palace.
Republican Guard soldiers levelled 20mm anti-aircraft guns at tanks and fired rocket-propelled grenades and rifles at the US forces.
A US tank commander was killed and two other soldiers wounded in one battle, reports said.
The pushes on several fronts left the smouldering remains of dozens of Iraqi military vehicles in their wake.
About 1000 Iraqi troops were killed, according to US Army Colonel David Perkins. He said bodies were "all over the streets".
Kamal, an Iraqi electrician living in the Yarmuk district on the road to the airport, described the fighting as "hell".
"The firepower was incredible. There was no let-up in the firing for three hours. Machine-gun fire, light artillery and RPGs (Rocket-Propelled Grenades)," he said. "We were on a battlefield."
US forces spokesman Captain Frank Thorp said: "We have substantial forces moving into the city.
"As we see an opportunity to move forward, to move into an area, we take it.
"We've actually moved through the Republican Guard divisions to pretty much the city centre."
US Marine Captain Matt Watt, commander of an infantry unit trained in urban warfare, warned of many more casualties.
"We're not going to tiptoe into the city, it will be a forceful knockout punch," he said.
"We'll make sure there's no capability for the enemy to resist us.
"We have to go in forcefully, and when we go in forcefully it just creates a lot of collateral damage."
The first street battles came as more than 20 tanks and 10 fighting vehicles from the 3rd Infantry Division rumbled up the main southern highway to the loop in the Tigris River on a reconnaissance mission.
The surprise incursion into the heart of Baghdad is a psychological boost for the coalition, which is expected to occupy the city, precinct by precinct.
Colonel Will Grimsley, of the 3rd Infantry Division, said of the mission: "It's called `Let me poke you in the eye because we can and you can't do anything about it.' "
Civilians fled in cars and trucks as tanks entered the city.
US forces had already taken control of Baghdad International Airport in the southwest. Hundreds of troops from the 101st Airborne Division and the 94th battalion, an engineering unit, joined the 3rd Infantry Division at the airport yesterday.
Fierce fights raged as troops moved out from the airport perimeter in an effort to clear surrounding suburbs.
On the western outskirts of the city, the US Army 7th Cavalry, flanking the airport forces, destroyed five Iraqi tanks.
A large armoured column of US marines also advanced into the city from the southeast.
About 2500 Republican Guards had earlier surrendered to marines advancing from Kut, troops said.
Crowds lined the road, with some Iraqis waving makeshift white flags and others shouting encouragement. One group was shouting, "Baghdad, Baghdad, yallah, yallah" which means "Go on to Baghdad".
Special forces were said to have blocked the main highway leading north to prevent any possible escape by Saddam Hussein and his lieutenants.
Coalition artillery and planes pounded the east of the city with bombs, missiles and shells, leaving many areas glowing orange.
Last night Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said Baghdad was safe and the Republican Guard had won back the airport, killing "hundreds" of US soldiers.
His claims were dismissed by US commanders.
In Basra, British forces moved further into the city and destroyed a building used by senior Iraqi military commander Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as Chemical Ali.
In the north, Kurdish fighters supported by US air power captured a key bridge 30km east of the city of Mosul.
In other developments:
TWO marines were killed when their Super Cobra attack helicopter crashed in central Iraq.
SEVEN civilians including three children were reportedly killed when US marines fired at two lorries that refused to stop at a checkpoint southeast of Baghdad.
PENTAGON officials revealed three troops were killed in a friendly fire incident when a US jet bombed coalition ground forces on Thursday.
IRAQI television showed a person who it said was Saddam Hussein, wearing a military uniform, rallying residents in the streets of Baghdad. He referred to a US Apache helicopter shot down on March 24 � the strongest evidence yet that he survived the initial attack aimed at killing him.
COALITION forces started distributing water in the southern city of Umm Qasr, hiring Iraqis to do that and other jobs. Aid also started to flow across the Turkish border in the north.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,6242934%255E661,00 .html
