'Night of hell' sees coalition troops take Baghdad airport

BAGHDAD - US and British special forces were probing into the heart of Saddam Hussein's empire last night after coalition troops seized Baghdad's airport.

Units, each with around a dozen crack soldiers, were swooping on Ba'ath Party and Special Security Organisation buildings and hunting down senior leadership figures.

"Special Forces are everywhere," said an American colonel who would be identified only as Randy.

The action coincided with a report from US war headquarters in Qatar that about 2500 Republican Guards of the Baghdad division had surrendered.

Early today, American troops claimed to have found thousands of boxes of white powder, nerve agent antidote and documents in Arabic on how to engage in chemical warfare at an industrial site south of the capital.

Near Baghdad itself, the shock troops of the British SAS, US Delta Force and the Navy Seals are attempting to capture key Iraqi targets or pinpoint their locations for US warplanes. They are operating in darkness after taking the airport - their biggest prize so far in the 16-day conflict.

But coalition forces are expecting to run into resistance within the capital and fear further attacks such as a suicide bombing north-west of Baghdad which late last night killed three troops at a checkpoint and the pregnant woman who stepped out of the civilian vehicle before it detonated, also killing the driver.

The US military said 320 Iraqi foot soldiers were killed in the airport fight, 20km southwest of the centre of Baghdad.

President Saddam Hussein has vowed the capital will be defended.

In a message read on state television by one of his ministers, he urged his countrymen: "Fight them brothers, hit them day and night and let the land of Muslims be a scorching fire for their feet and their faces wherever they pass.

"With God's help, their stomachs may grill in hell forever and our martyrs will attain paradise."

Residents were fleeing suburbs near the airport yesterday, running from what one woman called a "night of hell".

"There was banging all night," she said, trembling after her drive into the centre. "We saw that they have entered Baghdad. There were planes all night dropping bombs and there was shelling all night."

But in the city of five million, streets were almost deserted. There was little sign of new military preparation.

The move on the airport came hours after a power cut plunged Baghdad into darkness for the first time since the war began. The US denied intentionally causing the power failure, but it prompted speculation that a "blackout bomb" was dropped on the city so the special forces could operate freely.

Iraqi tanks and armed pickup trucks mounted a suicidal assault on US forces about 20km behind the airport frontline.

On the way to Baghdad, the 3rd Infantry Division went along a single-lane road on the city's southern outskirts with Iraqi fighters firing from all sides for four hours. Amid the fire, troops in the tanks and armoured vehicles tried to pick out the Iraqi soldiers from among civilians on the side of the road.

"Fire, fire, kill them," said Captain Chris Carter, the commanding officer of Alpha Company.

Then Staff Sergeant Ivings spotted another group of fighters. "He's got a weapon, oh ... there's civilians in the way, he's using these people are shields." He did not fire.

As the unit regrouped on open land, a soldier stood looking dazed. "When do we know when it's over?" he said.

"You could have sent two men in to kill Saddam Hussein. Why did we have to kill so many people? There were so many deaths today."

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri insisted Saddam was alive, but psychological operations forces are bombarding the population with the message that he is history.

- AGENCIES

Herald Feature: Iraq war