US forces battle their way into Hindiyah

US forces battled their way into this town 80 kilometres from Iraq on Monday and captured dozens of members of Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard.

Trading fire with Iraqis hidden behind brick walls and hedges, US Army forces spearheading the drive on Baghdad battled their way into this town 80 kilometres from the capital on Monday and captured dozens of members of Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard.

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The fierce street-by-street fighting at the key Euphrates River crossing was the war's closest known battle to Baghdad. Farther south, the Army encircled the Shiite holy city of Najaf and said it killed about 100 paramilitary fighters and captured about 50 Iraqis.

At least 35 Iraqi troops were reported killed and dozens captured in the fighting in Hindiyah between the sacred city of Karbala and the ruins of ancient Babylon.
The prisoners told the Americans they belonged to the guard's Nebuchadnezzar Brigade, based in Saddam's home area of Tikrit, and they had the guard's triangular insignia. An armoured unit of the 3rd Infantry Division rolled into the town of 80,000 at dawn and was met quickly by small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades from Iraqis hiding behind hedges and brick walls. One US soldier was wounded in the leg.

On the southeast side of a concrete and steel bridge across the dark-green Euphrates, the US soldiers took up positions in abandoned bunkers and sandbags and traded fire with Iraqis on the other side.

As the Americans began to cross the bridge, Iraqi troops tried to block it with civilian cars. A dark blue car attempted to race across the bridge toward US forces but was hit with heavy machine gun fire, which stopped it in the middle.

Iraqi forces in civilian clothes with blue or red keffiyahs wrapped around their heads and faces scrambled between buildings, trying to sneak up on US troops. Americans in tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles fired back with heavy machine guns and 25mm cannon.

Leading to the bridge was a broad boulevard with wide sidewalks dotted with cafes. Portraits of Saddam had been erected along the street every 100 metres.

"This must have been important to him (Saddam) to send down one of his Republican Guard brigades," said US brigade commander Col. David Perkins.

Looking across the river, he noted that Iraqis were firing rocket-propelled grenades from the reeds, and told a company commander: "Let's put some artillery in there." Within minutes, 155mm artillery shells whistled overhead, falling along the far side of the river, sending plumes of water into the air.

In another part of the city, a tank company attacked a bunker and killed 20 Iraqi troops and captured a dozen more in a different part of the city, according to reports from the field. At the Hindiyah police station, US soldiers used shotguns to open a locked door and stormed the building. Intelligence officers rifled through the desks. Troops found maps with fighting positions marked out and organizational charts.

Three Iraqi men were in the station's jail cells. They told US soldiers they had not eaten for three days. A company commander gave them field rations, and the soldiers looked for the keys to the cells.

The 3rd Infantry is at the forefront of the advance on Baghdad, where a battle looms with the Republican Guard.