Baghdad came under fresh bombardment yesterday as US-led forces dug in and regrouped south of the capital and Washington prepared to throw a further 120,000 men into battle against President Saddam Hussein.
In Baghdad, witnesses said eight Iraqis were killed and 33 hurt when two missiles hit a residential area in the city centre. Wednesday, 14 people died in a missile strike.
On the ninth day of war, US-led forces maintained pressure against the regime, pounding the capital and targets to the south in preparation for a final push on the city.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Seven Iraqi civilians were killed and 92 wounded in overnight air strikes in Baghdad, Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf said.
US forces meanwhile shored up the northern front, airlifting dozens of transport vehicles into Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.
Troops were seen boarding trucks in early morning amid reports of the first major movement in the region as Iraqi Kurd rebels advanced to 20km of the northern oil capital Kirkuk.
But the top US army ground commander in Iraq said tougher-than-expected Iraqi forces had stalled the US drive from the Kuwaiti border in the south toward Baghdad. Other US officials said the assault on Baghdad could be delayed until air strikes soften up crack Republican Guard units defending the capital.
Stock markets meanwhile dragged lower while oil prices jumped to the highest level since the start of the war amid fears of a long disruption.
The tens of thousands of troops now more than 700km north of the Kuwaiti border have encountered stiff resistance and atrocious weather, slowing the advance on Baghdad anticipated by military planners and placing a heavy burden on supplies coming up from the south.
US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who met at the Camp David presidential retreat Thursday, admitted the war launched on March 20 could last longer than expected.
Seeking to punch a hole in Iraqi defenses ahead of the decisive battle for Baghdad, US and British forces took advantage of a break in bad weather Thursday and yesterday to hit the seat of Saddam's power with some of the most punishing bombardments yet.
Explosions were heard on the outskirts of the city of 5 million in the early afternoon, a correspondent said, after intensive US and British bombing during the night from both aircraft and missile-launching ships.
Attacks blasted communication centers but telephone lines did not seem to have been cut, correspondents reported.
As preparations for a new front continued in the Kurdish-controlled north, where more than 1,000 US paratroops were dropped early Thursday, sporadic fighting took place in central Iraq.
The US army's 3rd Infantry Division was 80km south of Baghdad near Karbala while Marines were advancing north in two prongs between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, officials in Washington said.
US warplanes dropped 450kg bombs Thursday on an area between Karbala and Baghdad believed held by the Republican Guard's Medina division.
Resistance from lightly armed Iraqi irregulars in the south has raised the spectre of bloody street combat in the capital, as well as continuing attacks on US supply lines to the rear.
"The enemy we're fighting is different from the one we'd war-gamed against," the army's senior ground commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General William Wallace told The Washington Post at Forward Operating Base Shell, in Iraq.
Pentagon officials announced Thursday the US would more than double its ranks inside Iraq, with 120,000 troops ready to join the 90,000 already on the ground.
Both sides were now bracing for the climax of the US-led offensive against Saddam's regime, when allied troops eventually reach Baghdad and decide whether to lay siege to the city or invade it and face the horrors of what some analysts say could be "another Beirut."
Also See Stories:
Economists expect lengthy war to hammer markets
Non-American firms settle for crumbs
Crude oil rises on export cuts in Iraq, Nigeria
Analysts fear economy will slide into recession
War makes itself felt in the world of American business
American Airlines set to become war casualty
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique