Iraq briefing

Quick overview

The world watches Saddam Hussein's rule over Iraq crumble as television stations interrupt programmes to show Iraqis dancing on a statue of Saddam and welcoming US troops. In northern Iraq, US-backed Kurdish fighters were reported to have captured oil-rich Kirkuk, meeting little resistance from fleeing Iraqi troops. Looters burned the Finance Ministry in Baghdad. Iraqi UN ambassador in New York says "game is over", and covert CIA and military teams say nearly all top Iraqi officials have disappeared.

Saddam

* A suggestion that Saddam was hiding in Russian Embassy was quickly denied by the Russians.

* US Marines fought a fierce firefight at a mosque in northwestern Baghdad on the Tigris River after a report of Saddam hiding inside. One Marine was killed in the half-hour battle. Saddam was not seen.

New regime

* British officials say a local sheikh will take over leadership in the lawless Basra province, where looting and pillaging continues.

* US Vice-President Dick Cheney says American and Iraqi officials will meet in southern Iraq to begin planning for an interim Government. An Iraqi politician says 14 exiles and about 29 from inside country will take part in it.

Casualties

* US report 101 dead, 11 missing.

* Britain says 30 dead.

* Iraqi military - more than 2320, says US military. Iraq has given no figures for its military losses.

* Iraqi civilians (Iraqi estimates as of April 3) - 1252 killed, 5103 injured.

The fight

* In central Iraq US forces move through the site of King Nebuchadnezzar's ancient Babylon while US soldiers search for Iraqi forces around Hilla

* US planes bomb Iraqi positions in Kirkuk, and hundreds of Kurdish fighters advance towards the major oil hub

* Still no power or water supplies in the Southern city of Basra where armed men roam streets, looting and pillaging.

* US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says fighting in several pockets of Iraq is expected to continue for some time yet.

Herald Feature: Iraq war