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Sandstorms slow allies' march to Baghdad

AFP

A sandstorm combined with plumes of thick smoke from burning oil trenches envelop the centre of Baghdad on Tuesday.

NEAR KARBALA (Iraq) March 25. Fierce sandstorms that reduced visibility to a few feet slowed American and British forces to a crawl and thwarted air missions on Tuesday as the U.S.-led forces edged closer to the Iraqi capital. Baghdad residents, hunkered down for an eventual battle, woke to howling winds and the distant crash of artillery.

Combat missions from two aircraft carriers were called back due to bad weather. At least a dozen planes returned without reaching Iraq. Two Army divisions were virtually stalled in a vicious sandstorm.

Saudi Arabia has contacted the U.S. and Iraq with a peace proposal, the kingdom's Foreign Minister told newspersons in Riyadh. He said he was awaiting a response.

Iraq accused the U.S. and Britain of creating a humanitarian crisis by forcing the United Nations to halt food and medicine destined for the country. The southern port city of Umm Qasr on the Kuwaiti border is under the control of the invading forces, but it has been left without water supplies or electricity. Residents say stocks of food are running low.

Tuesday's sandstorms were "exceptional" even for Iraq which often sees them in the spring, AccuWeather meteorologist John Gresiak said. Dust and sand flew in from as far away as Egypt and Libya, he said adding muddy rain was likely later in the day, lighter winds tomorrow and then no major sandstorms for at least several days.

Another British soldier killed

Meanwhile, British forces — a day after coming under heavy attack — declared that parts of Basra, Iraq's second largest city, were now a "military target". A second British soldier was reported killed overnight near the town of Az Zubayr, close to Basra.

An AFP correspondent in An Nassiriya reported that more than 100 Iraqi bodies littered the road north from the town where U.S. Marines headed toward Baghdad after fierce fighting. It was not clear how many were soldiers or civilians trying to flee the key passageway over the Euphrates river after days of the sharpest fighting of the war.

The odour of burnt flesh filled the air and the road was strewn with bombed-out vehicles.

A military spokesman said in Baghdad that an Iraqi committed a suicide attack in the southern region of Fao overnight and destroyed a tank of the coalition forces. The Iraqi Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, told a news conference that Iraq had killed at least eight invading troops, destroyed three armoured personnel carriers and downed three U.S. helicopters in recent fighting against U.S. and British forces.

Iraq's Trade Minister, Mohammed Mehdi Saleh, denounced what he described as the "inhumane and immoral behaviour" of the two countries for blocking the U.N.'s oil-for-food programme. "There are products and contracts currently on ships and near the border and some are in Jordan," the Minister told reporters in Baghdad. He retorted, though, that Iraq was a country that could fend for itself. "Iraq does not need any humanitarian assistance. We are a rich country."

Meanwhile in London, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, predicted difficult days ahead in the assault on Iraq, and British forces reported that Iraqis were using human shields to defend Basra.

"There will be resistance all the way to the end of this campaign," Mr. Blair said at his second news conference since the invasion began. "It will take time and perseverance and the continuing skill and dedication and professionalism of our armed forces to break it down."

In five days of fighting, "a huge amount has already been achieved', he said adding that British forces had "secured" the port town of Umm Qasr in southern Iraq, and that resistance had been anticipated. "Nobody, least of all the forces loyal to Mr. Hussein, should be in any doubt that the resistance will be broken down and that the goals of the coalition forces will be met."

WAR UPDATE

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