Baghdad blasted by massive air raids

8.05am


BAGHDAD - The United States and Britain unleashed a devastating air assault on Baghdad this morning, as their ground forces thrust deep into Iraqi territory toward the capital where President Saddam Hussein's supporters were dug in for a last stand.

The air attack triggered giant fireballs, deafening explosions and huge mushroom clouds above the city center. US planes also hit military targets in the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk with equal ferocity.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the scale of the assault was intended to show Iraqis that Saddam was finished and his rule was "history."

"The regime is starting to lose control of their country," Rumsfeld told reporters at the Pentagon in Washington. He again warned Iraqi soldiers not to obey orders to use weapons of mass destruction and said the United States was taking care to hit only military targets with precision weapons to avoid hurting civilians.

"The confusion of Iraqi officials is growing. Their ability to see what is happening on the battlefield, to communicate with their forces and to control their country is slipping away," he said.

Iraq said Saddam had survived a US attempt to target him directly on Thursday. But rumours persisted that the Iraqi leader was dead and he was not seen in public or on television on Friday. British and US officials said they did not know whether he was alive or dead.

Huge plumes of smoke rose from Baghdad as bombs and missiles slammed into one of Saddam's palaces and other targets. Repeated explosions reddened the night sky and shook the ground in by far the biggest raid of the war.

After two days of smaller air attacks, this was the start of a major air war, dubbed by the Pentagon as "shock and awe."

A Reuters journalist saw fires raging in Saddam's palace and other buildings and black smoke rising high into the sky.

General Richard Myers, chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said hundreds of targets would be hit in the next 24 hours. He also said US and British forces should secure oil fields in southern Iraq later on Friday and were accepting the surrender of several hundred Iraqi troops.

He said other Iraqi soldiers were just leaving their units and running away. Iraqi resistance so far had been sporadic.

Saddam has concentrated his best forces in Baghdad, where he may be hoping to force invaders into dangerous street fighting in hopes of inflicting heavy casualties.

"The important thing is to get to Baghdad to prevent Saddam's ability to effect any form of command, particularly over weapons of mass destruction," said Major General Albert Whitely, deputy commander of the US-British land forces.

The United States and Britain launched the war, saying they needed to strike Iraq pre-emptively to deprive it of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Iraq denied having such weapons.

In a day of swift developments, US Marines captured the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr while other troops seized two airfields in the Iraqi desert 225 kilometres and 289 km west of the capital, part of a move to encircle Baghdad.

British Marines launched an amphibious and aerial assault and secured key oil installations at the head of the Gulf. Other British troops headed for the port of Basra.

One US armoured unit ran into Iraqi resistance that halted it temporarily near Nassiriya on the Euphrates river while it called for backup. The town is a main strategic crossing point over the Euphrates 378 km south east of Baghdad.

The startling speed of a US advance from Kuwait up to 160 km miles into the Iraqi desert had prompted some British and American officers to predict a swift victory.

"We're making progress," President Bush told lawmakers in the Oval Office. "We will stay on task until we've achieved our objective, which is to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and free the Iraqi people."

But British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the war would not be won overnight.

Reuters correspondent Andrew Gray, travelling with elements of the US 3rd Infantry Division, said the unit had come under fire near Nassiriya. He saw US troops return fire with rockets. US officers said they expected soon "to go and join the battle."


Iraqi ministers vowed to "incinerate" the invaders and said Saddam was still alive. They ridiculed the claims of early US successes and predicted invasion forces would soon become bogged down.

"Baghdad will remain defiant and its walls will be an incinerator for the invaders," said Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf.

British commandos took the Faw peninsula on Iraq's southern tip, seizing oil export terminals, but Iraqi troops pinned down US Marines pushing toward the port of Umm Qasr for two hours before British artillery blasted the Iraqi defences open.

US and British forces seized two boats off southern Iraq carrying 68 mines, military officials said.

In the first day of fighting, two US Marines were confirmed killed in action. Eight British and four US soldiers died in a helicopter crash in Kuwait.

Rapid US and British advances seemed to reassure oil markets. Britain's most senior military officer said only seven oil wells had been set on fire by the Iraqis - not the 30 earlier reported - and that all key components of the southern oil fields were safe.

Iranian government sources said two people were injured when a rocket hit an oil refinery depot in Abadan in southwestern Iran near the border with Iraq, but it was unclear where the rocket had come from.

Widespread opposition to the war around the world showed no sign of abating. Thousands of protesters spilled onto the streets of some Arab capitals after Friday prayers and clashed with police.

In Cairo, at least 5,000 Egyptians protested against the war, gathering outside the city's historic al-Azhar mosque. "Bush is the enemy of God," shouted angry demonstrators.

Riot police contained similar protests in Beirut and Amman. Demonstrators also took to the streets in Australia and Greece.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq