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Baghdad bombarded, anti-aircraft defences fire back
Baghdad, Mar 23: US-led coalition warplanes bombarded Baghdad around 5:30 pm (2000 IST) today, as anti-aircraft defences fired back, a news agency reported.
Baghdad, Mar 23: US-led coalition warplanes bombarded Baghdad around 5:30 pm (2000 IST) today, as anti-aircraft defences fired back, a news agency reported.
The riposte from anti-aircraft gunners was brief as the heavy bombardment continued, shaking windows and setting off car alarms, said the report.
Earlier today, US forces rolled toward the Iraqi capital and besieged the city of Basra. A grenade attack on a 101st airborne Division command tent killed one American soldier and wounded 13 others. A fellow soldier was detained as a suspect.
Allies boasted "the instruments of tyranny are collapsing," and so, from all appearances, was the will to fight among thousands in the regular Iraqi army. Still, resistance in some areas was fierce.
On the outskirts of Basra, a city of 1.3 million where Saddam Hussein`s tough security fighters were thought to be lodged, allies captured the airport in a gun battle and took a bridge. Marines also seized an Iraqi naval base at Az Zubayr port, 25 kilometers south of Basra, without meeting resistance.
U.S. forces crossed the Euphrates River and were halfway to Baghdad, two days after spilling from Kuwait in a sprint that has secured strategic oil fields, a seaport and towns.
Near Basra, cobra attack helicopters, attack jets, tanks and 155 mm howitzers fought ahead of the troops to clear highway 80. The road was nicknamed Highway of Death during the 1991 Gulf war because of an American air assault so devastating and graphic it even gave U.S. officials pause. Officials said 1,000 to 2,000 Iraqi soldiers were in allied custody and many others gave up the fight. But six Divisions of the Republican Guard, Saddam`s best and most loyal soldiers, were still in the way.
"So we must remain prepared for potentially tough fights as we move forward," Gen. Stanley Mcchrystal told a Pentagon briefing. "There`s a long way to go."
There was danger away from the front lines, as well. In northern Kuwait at Camp Pennsylvania, one soldier died and 13 others were wounded in a grenade attack. A U.S. soldier was detained, and an army spokesman said the motivation was probably "resentment", without elaborating.
At Camp New York, another staging camp in northern Kuwait, a patriot missile hit an incoming missile, a military official in Kuwait said. There were no reports of injuries.
The fate of Saddam remained unknown to the U.S. and British officials. ``Actually, I don`t know if he`s alive or not,`` said U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks, the war commander.
Saddam was shown on Iraqi TV again yesterday but there was no telling when the tape was made.
U.S. officials had no new, credible intelligence showing whether he had survived assaults on his compounds, or whether he might have been wounded.
But a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said another senior Iraqi leader was known to be alive and might be running some of Iraq`s defenses: Saddam`s cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid al-Tikriti, known to his enemies as ``Chemical Ali`` for his role in a chemical-weapons attack on on Kurds in 1988.
Any thought the allies would limit air attacks to the cover of darkness vanished in the smoky sunlight yesterday.
Twenty huge columns of smoke rose along Baghdad`s southern horizon yesterday afternoon and intermittent explosions were heard through the capital.
But when darkness did fall, the intensity picked up. Strong blasts rocked the capital. Warplanes were heard overhead once again. The attacks eased as the night wore on, but a new round of explosions rattled the city early today.
Sickened by the escalation of a campaign they already opposed, demonstrators rallied worldwide to give voice to their rage. Even so, crowds were smaller than before the conflict.
"We don`t want to see more innocent people die," said Susan Sonz, who joined 100,000 in New York city. An estimated 200,000 rallied in London. Tens of thousands marched in France, some holding rainbow-hued peace flags and others shouting "Bush, murderer".
After weeks of recalcitrance by Turkish leaders, U.S. military officials gave up on using Turkish bases to move heavy armored forces into northern Iraq, and redirected ships loaded with the weaponry to the Persian Gulf.
In Baghdad, an earlier, terrifying round of bombing laid waste to presidential palaces, government offices and military headquarters. But only three people died in that bombardment, Iraqi officials said, they said more than 200 were injured.
Iraqi officials showed reporters the residential al-Qadassiya neighbourhood, where seven houses were destroyed and 12 damaged, as well as a tourist complex along the Tigris River and an empty orphanage that were hit.
By luck or design, Baghdad`s electrical grid survived the towering fireballs.
Iraqi state television reported that air strikes also hit Tikrit, Saddam`s hometown and a stronghold of support. The report said five civilians were killed and four wounded. And in the far north, U.S. forces fired tomahawk cruise missiles at suspected positions of Ansar al Islam guerrillas, accused of having ties to al-Qaida terrorists.
Neighbouring Iran protested hits on Iranian territory by at least three U.S. missiles. The state department said Washington was investigating and respected Iran`s territorial integrity. As Allied forces moved rapidly through the desert, a few children waved; others patted their stomachs or lifted their hands to their mouths to show they were hungry.
Bedraggled Iraqi soldiers surrendered, including members of the 8,000-man 51st Infantry Division, a mechanized unit stationed in Basra. U.S. officials said many surrendered; others dispersed.
But the city of palm groves and oil facilities Iraq`s main seaport and second largest city bristled with danger and unpredictability.
Saddam`s security forces in Basra opened up with artillery and heavy machine guns.
The British took charge of the Basra fighting as U.S. marines pressed north.
Even a smaller conquest, the Umm Qasr seaport, was not entirely safe after two days; some Iraqi combatants slipped into civil garb and became guerillas.
Bureau Report
Allies boasted "the instruments of tyranny are collapsing," and so, from all appearances, was the will to fight among thousands in the regular Iraqi army. Still, resistance in some areas was fierce.
On the outskirts of Basra, a city of 1.3 million where Saddam Hussein`s tough security fighters were thought to be lodged, allies captured the airport in a gun battle and took a bridge. Marines also seized an Iraqi naval base at Az Zubayr port, 25 kilometers south of Basra, without meeting resistance.
U.S. forces crossed the Euphrates River and were halfway to Baghdad, two days after spilling from Kuwait in a sprint that has secured strategic oil fields, a seaport and towns.
Near Basra, cobra attack helicopters, attack jets, tanks and 155 mm howitzers fought ahead of the troops to clear highway 80. The road was nicknamed Highway of Death during the 1991 Gulf war because of an American air assault so devastating and graphic it even gave U.S. officials pause. Officials said 1,000 to 2,000 Iraqi soldiers were in allied custody and many others gave up the fight. But six Divisions of the Republican Guard, Saddam`s best and most loyal soldiers, were still in the way.
"So we must remain prepared for potentially tough fights as we move forward," Gen. Stanley Mcchrystal told a Pentagon briefing. "There`s a long way to go."
There was danger away from the front lines, as well. In northern Kuwait at Camp Pennsylvania, one soldier died and 13 others were wounded in a grenade attack. A U.S. soldier was detained, and an army spokesman said the motivation was probably "resentment", without elaborating.
At Camp New York, another staging camp in northern Kuwait, a patriot missile hit an incoming missile, a military official in Kuwait said. There were no reports of injuries.
The fate of Saddam remained unknown to the U.S. and British officials. ``Actually, I don`t know if he`s alive or not,`` said U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks, the war commander.
Saddam was shown on Iraqi TV again yesterday but there was no telling when the tape was made.
U.S. officials had no new, credible intelligence showing whether he had survived assaults on his compounds, or whether he might have been wounded.
But a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said another senior Iraqi leader was known to be alive and might be running some of Iraq`s defenses: Saddam`s cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid al-Tikriti, known to his enemies as ``Chemical Ali`` for his role in a chemical-weapons attack on on Kurds in 1988.
Any thought the allies would limit air attacks to the cover of darkness vanished in the smoky sunlight yesterday.
Twenty huge columns of smoke rose along Baghdad`s southern horizon yesterday afternoon and intermittent explosions were heard through the capital.
But when darkness did fall, the intensity picked up. Strong blasts rocked the capital. Warplanes were heard overhead once again. The attacks eased as the night wore on, but a new round of explosions rattled the city early today.
Sickened by the escalation of a campaign they already opposed, demonstrators rallied worldwide to give voice to their rage. Even so, crowds were smaller than before the conflict.
"We don`t want to see more innocent people die," said Susan Sonz, who joined 100,000 in New York city. An estimated 200,000 rallied in London. Tens of thousands marched in France, some holding rainbow-hued peace flags and others shouting "Bush, murderer".
After weeks of recalcitrance by Turkish leaders, U.S. military officials gave up on using Turkish bases to move heavy armored forces into northern Iraq, and redirected ships loaded with the weaponry to the Persian Gulf.
In Baghdad, an earlier, terrifying round of bombing laid waste to presidential palaces, government offices and military headquarters. But only three people died in that bombardment, Iraqi officials said, they said more than 200 were injured.
Iraqi officials showed reporters the residential al-Qadassiya neighbourhood, where seven houses were destroyed and 12 damaged, as well as a tourist complex along the Tigris River and an empty orphanage that were hit.
By luck or design, Baghdad`s electrical grid survived the towering fireballs.
Iraqi state television reported that air strikes also hit Tikrit, Saddam`s hometown and a stronghold of support. The report said five civilians were killed and four wounded. And in the far north, U.S. forces fired tomahawk cruise missiles at suspected positions of Ansar al Islam guerrillas, accused of having ties to al-Qaida terrorists.
Neighbouring Iran protested hits on Iranian territory by at least three U.S. missiles. The state department said Washington was investigating and respected Iran`s territorial integrity. As Allied forces moved rapidly through the desert, a few children waved; others patted their stomachs or lifted their hands to their mouths to show they were hungry.
Bedraggled Iraqi soldiers surrendered, including members of the 8,000-man 51st Infantry Division, a mechanized unit stationed in Basra. U.S. officials said many surrendered; others dispersed.
But the city of palm groves and oil facilities Iraq`s main seaport and second largest city bristled with danger and unpredictability.
Saddam`s security forces in Basra opened up with artillery and heavy machine guns.
The British took charge of the Basra fighting as U.S. marines pressed north.
Even a smaller conquest, the Umm Qasr seaport, was not entirely safe after two days; some Iraqi combatants slipped into civil garb and became guerillas.
Bureau Report