Baghdad, Apr 11: Looters rampaged as Baghdad descended into chaos while ministries blazed and the first suicide bombing since the fall of the Iraqi regime killed one US soldier. The key oil city of Kirkuk was seized by US and Kurdish forces, raising Turkey's concerns of an independence bid by Kurdish fighters, who later said they would leave the town in US hands today. About 10,000 fighters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) who entered the oil-rich town of Kirkuk will leave the city today following the harsh reaction from Turkey, a PUK official in Ankara said. Bahroz Galali, the PUK representative in the Turkish capital, said PUK leader Jalal Talabani had asked him to assure Ankara that their forces would leave the town. "This night US forces will come down with parachutes and we will give them Kirkuk. He (Talabani) told me that we will go out tomorrow," Galali had said. US and Kurdish forces also moved into the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, as Iraqi forces surrendered their weapons along the "green line" separating Iraqi and Kurdish-controlled areas of the north. The suicide attack came just a day after the city fell to US troops and Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed, offering evidence that die-hard loyalists were prepared to put up fierce resistance. A US military source said the suicide attack happened in Saddam city, an impoverished suburb in the north of Baghdad. Another US soldier was killed and 20 were wounded in a firefight with Saddam loyalists near a Baghdad mosque. Five ministries were on fire in the centre of the occupied city and looters pillaged the German embassy and the French cultural center. British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said that an incipient interim authority was likely to be in place within days in southern Iraq. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the military campaign had been waged at a heavy toll, urging the United States and Britain to respect international commitments to maintain law and order, amid the anarchy on Baghdad's streets. "When you think of the casualties, both military and civilian, the Iraqis have paid a heavy price for this," he said. "It appears there is no functioning government in Iraq at the moment." Iraqi opposition leader Ahmad Chalabi, the Pentagon's favourite for a leading role in post-war Iraq, said he sees "no room" for a US administration in Iraq. US troops arrived in Kirkuk to replace Iraqi Kurd fighters who had taken control, US and Turkish officials said. In a repeat of dramatic scenes in Baghdad yesterday, Kirkuk residents toppled a statue of Saddam in the central square after a popular uprising which left Kurds in control. "Kurdish forces and US forces in small numbers are in the process of moving into Mosul," US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said US-led troops will find banned weapons of the Iraqi regime.

"We have high confidence that they have weapons of mass destruction -- that is what this war was about, and is about -- and we have high confidence it will be found," he said.

In his television address to Iraqis, Bush said: "A long era of fear and cruelty is ending... You deserve better than tyranny and corruption and torture chambers. You deserve to live as free people."

His vow was matched by Blair saying: "The money from Iraqi oil will be yours to be used to build prosperity for you and your families."

Bureau Report