(Washington Post) - U.S. forces fought their way into Baghdad Monday, reaching the center of the city and attacking at least two presidential palaces and several Iraqi government buildings. U.S. forces also secured major roads leading from the Iraqi capital, provoking several intense engagements but no coordinated resistance. Baghdad's international airport has become a forward base housing about 7,000 soldiers and growing fast, with C-130 Hercules transport aircraft now landing there. British troops drove deep into Basra in southern Iraq. In northern Iraq, U.S. jets mistakenly bombed a convoy of Kurdish and U.S. troops, killing at least 18 Kurds and a U.S. Special Operations soldier. In Karbala, southwest of Baghdad, U.S. soldiers flushed out paramilitary fighters, killing between 60 and 100 militiamen. After the rest fled, hundreds of local residents tore down a 25-foot bronze statue of Hussein. A Marine unit operating on the east side of Baghdad Saturday ran into 16 T-72 tanks - Iraq's most advanced - and 29 armored vehicles - all of them empty.
2003-04-04 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive