Iraqi division commander surrenders to US troops

12.00pm

WASHINGTON - The commander of Iraq's regular 51st Division has surrendered to American Marines advancing through the desert toward Baghdad in southern Iraq, US defence officials said.

It was the first time that the commander of an Iraqi division has surrendered to US and British forces, who launched a blitzkrieg sweep northward from Kuwait on Thursday.

The New York Times reported earlier from Kuwait that the division's two top officers had surrendered and that the division had virtually "melted away," with most of its troops deserting their posts.

It was unclear how many Iraqi army soldiers were involved. Normal Iraqi divisions contain as many as 15,000 troops, but many of those regular units have been depleted by half since the 1991 Gulf War.

The US defence officials, who asked not to be identified, did not provide details but told Reuters that both the commander and vice-commander of the division had surrendered. The unit had been peppered in recent weeks with tens of thousands of air-dropped leaflets calling on the Iraqi military to give up.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a briefing earlier in the day that the United States had no ongoing negotiations with top Iraqi government officials or military commanders on surrender but that communications were under way with some units in the field.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq