American soldiers on the road to Baghdad fought bloody street-to-street battles with Iraqi forces loyal to Saddam Hussein while tense troops in southern Iraq shot and killed seven women and children when the driver of a van failed to stop at a checkpoint.
The civilian deaths, following days of ambush attacks, may damage US and British efforts to win over the Iraqi people.
US-led forces launched missiles early yesterday toward Baghdad and the holy Shiite Muslim city of Karbala to the southwest, and circling warplanes bombed targets in the area.
Buildings in the capital shuddered in some of the strongest blasts since the air war began March 20. The night sky glowed orange and smoke billowed from the Old Palace presidential compound. Rumbling explosions could be heard throughout the morning.
Among the targets, US officials said allied planes struck a complex that serves as the office of the Iraqi National Olympic Committee, where Iraqi dissidents say Saddam's son Uday runs a torture center.
Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said five people were killed and 25 others wounded in bombing in Baghdad yesterday morning alone.
US-led troops have relentlessly targeted Republican Guard positions in and around Baghdad in preparation for the war's likely decisive battle.
US forces battled some of these fighters from Iraq's best-trained units Monday in the Euphrates River town of Hindiyah, about 80km south of Baghdad.
Troops seized tonnes of ammunition and hundreds of weapons at the local headquarters of Saddam's Baath Party, along with maps showing Iraqi military positions and the expected route of the US attack.
To the south, Marines traded fire yesterday with hundreds of Iraqi fighters in the town of Diwaniyah. Other units fought to isolate Najaf in an ongoing effort to protect US supply lines.
A series of ruse attacks by militants in civilian clothes -- including a suicide bombing that killed four soldiers over the weekend -- have made the trek north increasingly dangerous for coalition troops.
US-led troops moving north toward Baghdad have focused much of their energy on rooting out fighters with the ruling Baath Party militia and the Fedayeen -- Saddam's most trusted paramilitary militia.
But they have also distributed rations to civilians, and they say winning over the Iraqi people is a priority.
In Diwaniyah, about 130km southeast of Baghdad, Marines fought with hundreds of Iraqi fighters who fired on them from inside buildings. At least 20 Iraqis were taken prisoner. Some simply surrendered.
Meanwhile, Iraq publicly denied a report that Saddam's family had fled the country. A statement on Iraqi TV called the report "a rumor circulated by the US Defense Department."
Iraqi TV late Monday aired footage of Saddam and his sons Uday and Qusai, but there was no way of determining when the video was shot. General Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said US intelligence sources have been unable to confirm that Saddam survived the March 19 strike on a bunker where he was believed to be staying but said, "That doesn't mean he's dead."
US President George W. Bush warned Monday that Saddam "may try to bring terror to our shores." The US is acting to prevent such threats, he said, while offering assurances that the war remains on track.
In northern Iraq, commanders said forces searching the recently captured compound of Muslim extremist group Ansar al-Islam found documents, computer discs and other material belonging to Arab fighters -- including suspected militants living in the US.
The Bush administration has longed claimed Ansar is linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, but there has been no indication it has ties to Saddam's regime.
Elsewhere, an Iraqi prisoner was shot to death after he reached for a Marine's weapon while being questioned, Central Command spokesman Lieutenant Commander Charles Owen said yesterday.
Near the southern port of Basra, warplanes from the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk dropped bombs on an Iraqi presidential yacht and another ship, Navy officials said yesterday.
The official casualty count for Americans stands at 44 dead, seven captured and 16 missing. The British death toll rose to 26 with the death of a soldier Monday in southern Iraq.
Iraqi officials have given no estimate of military casualties but have said at least 480 civilians have been killed and thousands wounded.
British officials say 8,000 Iraqis have been taken prisoner so far.
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