The Hindu : U.S. forces closing in on Baghdad

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003

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U.S. forces closing in on Baghdad

The U.S. Army's 3rd infantry division launches missiles to pound Iraq's Republican Guard, in the suburbs of Karbala, south of Baghdad, on Wednesday. — AP

NEAR KARBALA (Iraq) April 2. Approaching within 65 km of Baghdad, U.S. forces seized a bridge over the Tigris and swept past battered Republican Guard units today. One of the key Guard divisions defending the city of Kut ``has been destroyed,'' a U.S. general said.

Farther south, U.S. commanders said Iraqi soldiers were shooting from inside a revered mosque in Najaf and that American soldiers withheld return fire.

The U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division and the U.S. 1st Marine Expeditionary Force launched a two-pronged attack toward Baghdad, and both reported breakthroughs as units entered the so-called ``red zone'' within range of the guns and missiles defending the capital.

The Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, issued a new statement declaring that ``victory is at hand'' and urging Iraqis to defend their towns, according to a broadcast today on Iraqi satellite television. Mr. Hussein did not appear in person, and there was no way to verify if any of the statements actually came from the Iraqi leader.

The Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, called reports of a U.S. breakthrough near Baghdad ``illusions.'' As for the Tigris crossing, he replied: ``We welcome them, but this is not true.''

Mr. Al-Sahhaf also told reporters that Americans were bent on destroying Shia shrines in Najaf and Karbala by flying low over them, causing vibrations.

Bombs continued to rain on Baghdad, with telephone exchanges among the targets hit today. Intermittent explosions could be heard at night on the outskirts of the city, with the sound of aircraft overhead more frequent.

U.S. 3rd Infantry units surged past the strategic city of Karbala, targeting an estimated 2,000 paramilitary fighters. Karbala, which sits on the main approach to Baghdad from the southwest, was encircled and hit by night-long bombardment from U.S. artillery and warplanes.

To the east, U.S. Marines moved to within 65 km of Baghdad after capturing an important bridge over the Tigris near Kut. U.S. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said the Baghdad Division defending Kut, was destroyed. An Iraqi military statement read on Iraqi satellite television denied that the division was destroyed, saying it remained ready to fight.

``What we're seeing is a multi-pronged approach,'' said Lt. Mark Kitchens, a U.S. Central Command spokesman. ``The noose is quickly tightening around the neck of this regime.''

In central Iraq, between Diwaniyah and Kut, thousands of U.S. Marines took a route so recently secured that at one spot the bodies of four dead Iraqi soldiers lay around a vehicle that still had its engine running. In northern Iraq, Baghdad's forces shelled a village in the south of the Kurdish autonomous region today, and fighter jets of the U.S.-led coalition streaked overhead targeting Iraqi positions 160 km north of Baghdad.

U.S. soldiers on the front lines and relatives in the United States rejoiced over the rescue of U.S. Pfc. Jessica Lynch from captivity at an Iraqi hospital used as a military command post. The American commandos who freed her also retrieved 11 bodies, some of them believed to be American soldiers.

In Najaf, about 80 km south of Karbala, U.S. forces were being fired on from the Ali mosque, one of the most important Shia Muslim shrines, U.S. Central Command said, adding that coalition forces have tried to minimise damage to religious sites.

Hospital hit

The International Red Cross, meanwhile, said some of its staff members saw the bodies of dozens of people — including women and children — at a town south of Baghdad. At least 280 injured people were being treated at a hospital in Hillah, the Red Cross said.

Iraqi officials said on Tuesday that U.S. Apache helicopters attacked a residential neighbourhood in Hillah, killing 33 persons and injuring more than 300. The U.S. Central Command said it was investigating the claim.

A report from As-Saliyah, Qatar, said U.S. forces today dropped ``for the first time in combat history'' a new version of a cluster bomb that adapts to wind and weather to hit targets more accurately, Central Command said.

Six CBU-105 Wind Corrected Munitions Dispensers were dropped by B-52 bombers in central Iraq ``to stop an Iraqi tank column from continuing on its route towards coalition troops,'' said a statement.

New York-based Human Rights Watch, in a report days ahead of the start of the current conflict, said cluster munitions dropped in the 1991 Gulf war were to blame for the deaths or injuries of more than 4,000 civilians after the fighting ended.— AP, AFP

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