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American forces encircle Baghdad
Fierce battle raged outside Baghdad as night fell on Sunday amid US claims that it had cut all approaches to the city of five million people.
US forces controlled all major highways out of the Iraqi capital on Sunday as fierce battle continued close to Baghdad while US Central Command claimed that 3,000 Iraqi fighters were killed in a show-of-force foray into the city by American armoured vehicles.
Bombs and artillery crashed around Baghdad on Sunday, flooding hospitals with casualties as US forces said they had almost encircled the battered capital.
US troops fighting to break the power of President Saddam Hussein cut most approaches to the city of five million people. As Iraqi militiamen scored hits over the odd US tank and Apache, Saddam ordered his soldiers to join any unit they reach to battle coalition force.
Panicked residents fled to escape the fighting for Saddam's stronghold. With temperatures soaring, thousands of families set out from the capital on foot and in overloaded cars to find safe haven in remote provinces.
As night fell in Baghdad on Sunday, artillery shelling and mortar fire could be heard loud and clear in the south. The scream of missiles, the sound of distant but loud explosions and the crackle of anti-aircraft fire filled the air as darkness fell on the city on Sunday.
Iraqi TV quoted Saddam as saying anyone who destroys a coalition tank, armored personnel carrier or artillery will receive a US$5,000 reward. The TV said two Iraqi women who killed three US soldiers in a suicide attack would be decorated posthumously by Saddam.
In northern Iraq, a US war plane bombed a convoy of Kurdish fighters and US troops, Kurdish officials said. A Kurdish spokesman said 17 Kurdish fighters were killed and 45 others injured. The BBC said one of its cameramen was killed. US Central Command said it was investigating the incident.
In Moscow, the Kremlin said a convoy of Russian Embassy diplomats, including the Russian ambassador to Iraq, came under fire as they were evacuating from Baghdad and starting to drive toward Syria. A Russian Foreign Ministry official said four or five people were wounded but that the injuries were not life threatening.
BATTLE FOR BAGHDAD
Anti-aircraft batteries lit up the night-time sky, which was almost completely dark due to a power cut. It was the first day mortar and rocket fire had been heard in Baghdad, whose airport US forces captured on Friday.
Even as US claimed to have killed 3,000 Iraqi fighters in a military foray into Baghdad, Iraq urged people of the city to beware of 'lies and rumours', denying any successes by US forces in or around the country's capital.
"God is great and to him we owe thanks" was beamed from mosque loudspeakers as fresh explosions shook the city.
Iraqi authorities took Baghdad-based journalists to the city's southern outskirts on Sunday to show them a US tank destroyed in the recent fighting. A commander said four more tanks also were destroyed but had been towed away to clear the road. US claimed it had destroyed the tank after it broke down.
American troops stepped up pressure in and around Baghdad on Sunday, including an attempt by Marines to take a bridge over a canal leading into the city. Iraqi fighters had rigged the bridge with explosives and dug out the embankment under the bridge to weaken it. Marines said they control the bridge but cannot cross it.
The number of casualties in Baghdad is so high that hospitals have stopped counting the number of people treated, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
US PLANE LANDS AT BAGHDAD AIRPORT
The first US military aircraft landed at Baghdad airport on Sunday, a US military source said. "At least one aircraft has landed at the airport," said the senior source in the US 3rd Infantry Division's aviation brigade.
He said a C-130 military transporter landed at about 8 pm local time, about an hour after dark, on the western, military side of the airport. He gave no details of whether it was carrying a load.
OTHER BATTLES
Basra: British forces in southern Iraq made their deepest push yet into Basra, with a column of 40 armoured personnel carriers rolling into Iraq's second-biggest city
Karbala: US troops hunted for weapons and concealed Iraqi fighters, securing the rear of forces rapidly building their presence around Baghdad.In north, Kurdish fighters said they had captured the town of Ain Sifni, northeast of Mosul.
In north: Kurdish fighters said they had captured the town of Ain Sifni, northeast of Mosul.
IRAQI FREEDOM FIGHTERS
US Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace said in Washington that Iraqi "freedom fighters" are being airlifted to southern Iraq to join coalition troops and form the nucleus of a new national army for that country.
"These are Iraqi citizens who want to fight for a free Iraq, who will become basically the core of the new Iraqi army once Iraq is free," Pace, vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said on the ABC television program This Week.
POPE PREACHES PEACE AGAIN
From the Vatican, Pope John Paul II pleaded on Sunday for a swift end to the conflict, expressing special concern for civilians affected by the fighting.
