US troops claim 650 Iraqis killed

NEAR NAJAF - United States troops killed about 650 Iraqis in fighting near the central town of Najaf, an Army officer said last night, providing a toll far higher than that supplied by the Pentagon.

"An estimated 650 Iraqis were killed over the last 24 hours in the Najaf area," said Major John Altman, intelligence officer of the 3rd Infantry Division's First Brigade.

If confirmed, it would be by far the bloodiest encounter in six days of fighting - though it appeared that it would be hard to make an accurate body count in the prevailing sandstorm.

Earlier in Washington, the Pentagon said 150 to 300 Iraqis might have been killed when they attacked tanks of the US 7th Cavalry near Najaf.

Reuters correspondent Luke Baker, with US forces near Najaf 160km south of the capital, said officers in the field reported a furious two-hour battle between American tanks and Iraqi fighters with rocket-propelled grenades.

A dozen or more US tanks became stranded on the far side of a river after Iraqis blew up a bridge they had crossed. More US tanks were sent in to help.

Sky News' Colin Brazier in Najaf reported: "This was a very substantial engagement involving tanks and thousands of troops."

He described how American tanks were crossing a temporary bridge over the River Euphrates when the structure collapsed.

Three of the tanks became isolated and drew Iraqi fire.

"Planes laid a protective bubble of fire around them and there were lots of [Iraqi] casualties there," Brazier said.

"An intelligence officer from the 1st Brigade of the Third Infantry Division has told me the number of Iraqis killed is around 750."

He said there were reports that Iraqi reinforcements were heading south from Karbala.

Commanders on the ground gave no information on casualties on either side beyond saying that they expected the Iraqi death toll to be "very high".

"Apparently ground forces tried to hit some of our guys with rocket-propelled grenades," an official said. "They did damage a couple of pieces of our gear but we've had no reports of casualties on our side." A CNN correspondent with the 7th Cavalry quoted US officers in the field saying Iraqis using wire-guided missiles from the back of pick-up trucks had knocked out two M1-A1 Abrams tanks, some of the Americans' most advanced battle hardware.

"Apparently there are some reports that we may have killed quite a few of them," a Pentagon official said. "Estimates differ. Some say 200 to 300. Some say 150." Some reports had suggested as many as 500 Iraqis had been killed, the official added.

US warplanes and missiles targeted Iraq's state television station and satellite communications in Baghdad and pounded positions held by Republican Guards defending the approaches to the city.

But Reuters correspondents in the capital said state television, which does not broadcast overnight and was off the air at the time of the bombing, began broadcasting verses from the Koran as usual around 6pm NZT.

About 40 large explosions struck the southern outskirts while a further blast hit a central district housing the television station.

"They are really pounding the area," Reuters correspondent Nadim Ladki said.

Military officials in the US said Iraqi television and satellite communications had been targeted.

Iraq's international satellite channel, monitored in Dubai, ceased broadcasting around the time of the explosions.

While domestic television, an important link between Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his people, was back on air, the international channel had not resumed.

Overnight, British chief-of-staff Major General Peter Wall said there were indications that a revolt might be under way in Basra, Iraq's second biggest city.

The mainly Shi'ite Muslim people of Basra rose up against Saddam's Sunni-dominated Government after the 1991 Gulf War, but their revolt was rapidly smashed as US forces stood aside.

US-led forces had been hoping the Shi'ite south would welcome their invasion this time round.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq