US troops on Baghdad doorstep, move on airport

3.00pm - By LUKE BAKER

NEAR BAGHDAD - US forces fought for Baghdad's airport today in the first ground attack of the war on the Iraqi capital, after armoured units thrust to the edge of the city on a mission aimed at ousting President Saddam Hussein.

As ground forces advanced to the outskirts of the capital on the 16th day of the US-led war, planes blasted targets in and around the city, where the power went off yesterday for the first time since the conflict began. US officials said their forces had not targeted the electricity grid.

Baghdad airport, about 20km from the centre, appeared to be a key objective for US forces, according to military analysts who said it could be used as a forward operating base in any battle for the ancient city.

At least 16 loud explosions rocked central Baghdad in the early hours of today, the Muslim holy day, in what has become an almost routine nocturnal bombardment of the capital. Many hit presidential palaces belonging to Saddam.

About 100 explosions were also heard south of the sprawling city of five million people, along with artillery fire.

Reuters correspondent Nadim Ladki said the raids were intense and flashes could be seen in central Baghdad from the vicinity of the airport.

"It sounds like there's a battle raging," Ladki said.

US President George W Bush ordered the war on Saddam accusing Iraq of concealing biological and chemical weapons. Saddam denies having a weapons of mass destruction programme.

Iraq did not use such weapons on troops at the airport despite US speculation that he had drawn a "red line" around the capital within which he would use chemical weapons.

With US troops on the doorstep of Baghdad, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a key US ally, said today that the coming days would be critical.

"I'm not saying that Iraqi resistance is crumbling... I don't think anybody quite knows at the moment," Howard told Melbourne radio station 3AW.

"It would seem that the next few days are very crucial."

The advance puts Baghdad easily within the range of many ground-based rockets and guns brought by US troops from Kuwait.

"They've (US forces) taken several outlying areas and are closer to the centre of the Iraqi capital than many American commuters are from their downtown offices," Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a Pentagon briefing.

US and British leaders have said that the hardest part of the campaign may be to secure Baghdad, where the invaders could be sucked into bloody street-by-street fighting where the advantage of hi-tech weaponry would be blunted.

Iraqi satellite television showed footage last evening of Saddam chairing a meeting. As usual, there was no way to verify when the footage was shot.

With speculation that Saddam might have been killed by US bombs or fled, Rumsfeld said Saddam's fate was sealed.

"For the senior leadership, there is no way out. Their fate has been sealed by their actions," he said.

In a sign that Saddam's authority throughout Iraq may be crumbling, a senior Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, urged believers not to oppose invasion troops, according to a Shi'ite group based in London which represents his followers worldwide.

"If the reports of a more welcoming response from the local population are reflective of the mood of the whole community, then that is enormously significant and it may suggest that the regime's grip is loosening," Howard said.

US military sources told Reuters correspondent Luke Baker, travelling with the 3rd Infantry Division, their troops were using tanks and other armoured vehicles against Iraqis dug in at the airport.

The US forces also found a network of tunnels beneath the airport, apparently stretching back to the Tigris river.

Another Reuters reporter said dozens of Iraqis, including some civilians, were killed and scores injured in the village of Furat near Baghdad airport yesterday evening after a barrage of US artillery and rocket attacks.

Iraq said its forces captured five US tanks, one helicopter and either seized or killed their crews during fighting near Baghdad airport. The United States issued no casualty report.

At Central Command, a US commander said special forces had also raided a residence of Saddam northwest of Baghdad and blocked the road to his hometown of Tikrit.

US military officials said a US Army soldier was killed by friendly fire when he was mistaken for an enemy fighter while investigating a destroyed Iraqi tank. Yesterday's shooting was the latest of several confirmed or suspected "friendly fire" incidents in recent days by US forces.

In northern Iraq, Kurdish fighters, backed by small groups of US soldiers, advanced towards the northern oil town of Mosul but were met by heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, Reuters correspondent Sebastian Alison said.

Further south, US troops moved into the centre of the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Najaf, searching for paramilitary fighters, and tightened their grip on Nassiriya, where they appeared to be in full control of bridges over the Euphrates.

In the far south, British forces surrounding Iraq's second city of Basra edged into the outskirts, capturing an industrial complex where Iraqi militia had spearheaded fierce resistance.

The United States lists 54 dead and 12 missing since the war began. Britain says it has suffered 27 dead.

Iraq has not given figures for military deaths, but Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said more than 1250 civilians have been killed, a figure that could not be independently checked.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq war