US forces prepare to surround Baghdad

4.00pm

UPDATE - US-led invaders seeking to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein launched a ferocious barrage on Baghdad's eastern outskirts on Saturday as they prepared to draw a noose of steel around the capital.

Devastating explosions rocked the southeastern districts of Baghdad after a night of relentless bombing aimed at the eastern fringes of the city, Reuters correspondent Hassan Hafidh said.

The attack in the east followed hard on the heels of the capture by US troops on Friday of the city's airport, 12 miles to the southwest of the city centre, the biggest prize yet for US-British forces in the 17-day-old war.

US commanders called in reinforcements to beef up the estimated 1,500 troops at the airport, possibly opening the way for it to be used as a forward base in a battle for the sprawling city of 5 million people.

There was no sign of the "nonconventional" attack on US troops -- "a kind of martyrdom operation" -- threatened by Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf on Friday.

A huge armored column of US Marines closed in on Baghdad on Friday, the eastern flank of a pincer thrust on the key target in the war.

"We are going to try to isolate Baghdad," Marine Capt. Matt Watt told Reuters. "We're going to surround Baghdad and start taking chunks out of where the enemy are."

The mood in the capital was grim.

"This is it. This is the final battle. We have no way out. We are facing a reality now. We're confronting the mightiest army in the world. What can we do? Where can we go? We're at a loss," said Nour Khaled, 48, a mother of two.

US military leaders sought to quash any expectations that the end of the war was near, noting that the battle to conquer Baghdad could entail dangerous urban warfare in which their technological edge over the Iraqis would be blunted.

"We know there are forces inside (Baghdad) that have intent to fight. It will take time to gain a degree of control and security," Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks told reporters.

Iraq sought to rally resistance on Friday by broadcasting television footage of what it said was Saddam touring bomb-damaged Baghdad streets and greeting enthusiastic residents.

The broadcast, which did not make clear when the public appearance took place, sparked speculation in the United States over whether the real Saddam or a double had been shown.

Iraqi television also showed what it said was Saddam reading a statement in which he referred to the downing of a US Apache helicopter on March 24.

CALL FOR RESISTANCE

"Hit them with force, resist them, oh people of Baghdad whenever they advance upon your city and remain true to your principles, your faith and your honour," said Saddam, dressed in a green military uniform.

After the speech was aired, the White House said it would consider military action in Iraq a success even if US forces failed to find Saddam.

The Pentagon said 67 US personnel had been killed and 154 wounded since the war, intended to rid Iraq of chemical and biological weapons, began. It said 16 were missing and seven had been taken prisoner.

Iraq denies having chemical or biological weapons and the US-British forces have yet to find any. But US forces said on Friday they had found thousands of boxes containing vials of unidentified liquid and powder as well as manuals on chemical warfare at two sites near Baghdad.

Sahaf, in warning of a "nonconventional" attack, said he did not mean Baghdad planned to use weapons of mass destruction. "We will do something that will be a great example for these mercenaries," he said.

The commander of British forces in the Gulf, Air Marshall Brian Burridge, suggested Sahaf might have meant that Iraqi troops would use crowds of their own civilians as human shields.

US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a leading hawk in the Bush administration, said Washington had no intention of imposing long-term control on Iraq.

Wolfowitz said retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, earmarked by President Bush to head an interim administration before Iraqis once again take control, would have a limited mandate.

"We view Jay Garner's role as being ... to make sure that the basic services that the Iraqi people depend on for their daily lives are functioning in whatever interim period it takes before the government can take over and do it," he said.

But he rejected the insistence by Bush's main ally in the war, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the European Union and aid groups that the United Nations should play a key part in rehabilitating post-war Iraq, relegating it instead to "a facilitating role."

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq war