South-Central Iraq, Apr 02: American ground troops battled Republican Guard troops around the holy Shiite Muslim city of Karbala early today, hours after warplanes pounded positions with cruise missiles and air strikes.
U.S. army units were battling the Medina Division of the
Republican Guard, Iraq's best trained and equipped forces, US
defence officials said in Washington. Karbala is 80 kilometers
from Baghdad, the capital.
The action in Karbala marked the first major ground
battle with Republican Guard troops, the forces guarding the
approaches to the Iraqi capital.
In and around Diwaniyah to the southeast, Republican
Guard units and U.S. Marines fought an eight-hour battle
yesterday, with Marines killing at least 80 Iraqi soldiers
and taking more than 40 Iraqis prisoner, U.S. officials said.
Northeast of Diwaniyah, near Kut, a Marine intelligence
analyst said heavy bombing there was intended to clear the way
for ground forces. Troops also secured an airbase at Qalat
Sukkar, southeast of Kut, ahead of a possible northward thrust
by the U.S. 1st Marine Division.
Flares lighted up the night sky yesterday over Iraq's
second-largest city, Basra, where British troops guarding
bridge exchanged fire with Iraqi forces inside the city early
in the day.
Iraqi TV broadcast a communique from the Iraqi military
late yesterday saying at least 23 coalition soldiers were
killed over the past 24 hours, along with 35 tanks six armored
personnel carriers and one apache helicopter.
Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein's presidential
compound in central Baghdad was hit again today by coalition
bombs.
The attack came at around 3:05 am (0535 IST) some 10
minutes after a bridge in the east of the city was targeted in
the latest air raids by the US-led forces.
It was not immediately clear how many bombs hit the
presidential palace nor what damage was done.
A series of loud explosions shook Baghdad early today
and the city's anti-aircraft guns were still in action
some 40 minutes after the attack.
Bureau Report
