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Allied forces begin ground attack on Iraq
Southern Iraq, Mar 21: The US marines and army rolled into Iraq and engaged Saddam Hussein`s forces in the desert, joining British troops in launching the war`s ground assault. Meanwhile, according to the latest reports, around 200 Iraqi troops have surrendered to the US forces.
As U.S. armour drove deeper into Iraq this morning, British troops conducted an assault on the strategic al-Faw peninsula, Iraq`s access point to the Persian Gulf and the site of major oil facilities. British military officials said they hoped to seize key port of Umm Qasr before the day`s end.
Through the night and as the sun rose, artillery barrages lit up the sky, and witnesses in northern Kuwait side said they could hear thunderous explosions from the Umm Qasr area.
Last evening, US forces in northern Kuwait signaled the start of their advance on Iraq with a thundering artillery barrage over the border. Infantrymen on the move, their weeks of waiting at an end, cheered as shells screamed overhead.
Under the shelter of night and supported by heavy bombing, the armoured vehicles of the 1st marine division rolled into southern Iraq at around 9 P.M. local time (2330 IST). As they moved through the desert, burning oil wells were visible, spewing black smoke.
The 20,000 marines met light resistance from Iraqi "rear guard" units. They opened fire with machine guns on an Iraqi T-55 tank and destroyed it with a javelin, a portable anti-tank missile.
Troops from the army`s 3rd infantry division also crossed into Iraq and came into contact with several Iraqi armoured personnel carriers, destroying at least three of them, front line troops reported by radio. There were no reports of US casualties in the engagements. In northern Kuwait, a helicopter crashed killing the 12 British and four American troops on board.
Last evening, elite British troops were dropped by
Chinook and sea stallion helicopters to seize oil facilities
in al-Faw after U.S. seals prepared the area, according to
Britain`s press association news agency.
By taking southern Iraq, the allies would command access
to the Gulf and set the stage for the first major conquest on
the way to Baghdad - Basra, Iraq`s second largest city, just
32 kilometers from the Kuwait border.
The move on the area between Basra and the Persian Gulf
suggested that the allied strategy on the ground calls for a
two-pronged attack - one to clear Iraqi resistance in the
southern oil region while the other charges north toward
Baghdad.
Australian troops, meanwhile, were on the ground
identifying targets for coalition aircraft and monitoring
Iraqi troop movements, a defence force spokesman said in
Canberra. Australian naval forces were patrolling coastal
areas in an effort to cut off any attempt by Iraqi leaders to
flee by sea.
Members of Australia`s special air service regiment are
``now undertaking active operations inside Iraq,`` brig. Mike
Hannan told reporters. It was the first confirmation the 150
commandos were in action.
Australian fighter jets were in action yesterday
escorting coalition bombers that targeted Baghdad. Australia
has 2,000 military personnel involved in the coalition to
disarm Iraq.
``Things are going very well,`` said U.S. defence
secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in Washington.
Yet conditions were sometimes difficult. Marines drove
through thick, swirling dust storms. Troops detected Iraqi
tanks and armored vehicles hidden behind sand berms by the
heat they gave off, and U.S. aircraft attacked the positions.
None of the forces apparently encountered chemical or
biological weapons. The marines passed burning oil wells,
though it was not known who had set them afire. Flames shot
up hundreds of feet, thickening the air with black smoke.
Artillery, mortars and howitzers rumbled for hours in
the nearly deserted far north of Kuwait, mixed with bursts of
rocket launchers. The explosions rattled tin roofs noisily on
their wood frames miles away and shook concrete houses.
The attack came at the end of a day that began with
allied troops at the other end of the gun barrel, as Iraq -
responding to the American bombardment of Baghdad and other
targets - launched missiles into Kuwait, where allied forces
were primed to attack.
The Iraqi military claimed in a statement it had
repulsed an ``enemy`` attack at al-Anbar province, on Iraq`s
border with Jordan and Saudi Arabia. It was not clear what
force could be attacking from that point, and the statement
did not mention attacks in the south.
Meanwhile, the U.S. 3rd infantry division`s artillery
opened fire on Iraq with paladin self-propelled howitzers and
multiple launch rocket systems. More than 100 artillery shells
were fired toward southern Iraq in a five-minute barrage.
White light glowed in the sky above the cannons, as explosions
were heard from Iraq.
No fire was returned, but the shooting was unnerving to
those within earshot. Pakistani and Indian farm workers ran
out in their yards in the dark, shouting. ``Give me my
passport,`` one field worker told his foreman.
``The Americans are bombing to the left of us, to the
right of us, the front, the backside, and I`m under it!`` the
foreman said later.
Under a bright moon late last night, troops had streamed
toward the border in convoys of trucks, tankers, humvees and
other military vehicles of the 101st airborne division.
As the convoy moved at a steady 30 mph clip, troops
pulled scarves across their faces as huge clouds of dust rose
from the flat desert. Pairs of red tail lights and yellow
headlights strung across the desert, filtered by a fog of
dust.
Earlier in the day, the waiting troops had their first
brush with action when Iraq fired missiles into Kuwait. There
were cries of ``gas, gas, gas,`` and U.S. troops ran for their
protective suits and gas masks - but authorities said none of
the missiles carried biological or chemical payloads.
Bureau Report