Between 2,000 and 3,000 Iraqi fighters were killed in a show-of-force foray into Baghdad by American armored vehicles, the US Central Command said yesterday.
The command also said it was investigating a report of a friendly fire incident in northern Iraq. According to a BBC correspondent and Kurdish officials, up to a dozen people died when a US warplane bombed a convoy carrying Kurdish fighters and US special forces.
In southern Iraq, British forces made their deepest push yet into Basra, with a column of 40 armored personnel carriers rolling into the country's second-biggest city after a series of strikes on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's loyalist defenders.
Though Saturday's 40km incursion through an industrial section of southern Baghdad was brief, it inflicted a heavy toll, according to command spokesman Jim Wilkinson. More than three-dozen tanks and armored vehicles were involved; US casualties were described as light.
The blitz took two task forces of the 3rd Infantry Division from the southern outskirts of the city past Baghdad University and near the banks of the Tigris River, then back to the western outskirts of the city to the airport, which is under US control.
While some Iraqi civilians welcomed the troops, others put up a fight, including a mixture of Republican Guard and irregular forces, Wilkinson said.
Wilkinson did not specify how US forces came up with their estimate of Iraqi deaths; previously, enemy tolls have not been issued. He indicated that forays into Baghdad would continue.
"It's important to do so to secure the area; it's also important that we do that for psychological reasons," he said. "Frankly we've had to prove to the civilians in the north and the south that we're there to stay. Once they know we're there to stay, they celebrate."
* Bombs, artillery thunder across Baghdad as US forces tighten grip on capital's outskirts
* US forces seize two major highways leading out of Baghdad, US military sources say
* Brother of Kurdish leader Barzani in critical state after US "friendly fire" attack, Kurdish source says
* US military says not responsible for attacking Russian diplomatic convoy carrying ambassador out of the country
* Saddam, in message read on Iraqi TV, tells Iraqis who cannot join their own fighting units to link up with other units
* British tanks shoot their way into center of Basra
Source: Reuters
US pressure in and around Baghdad intensified in other ways yesterday, including an attempt by Marines to take a bridge over a canal leading into the city. Iraqi fighters had rigged the bridge with explosives and dug out the embankment under the bridge to weaken it; Marines said they control the bridge but cannot cross it.
Another Marine battalion overran a Republican Guard headquarters and seized one of Saddam's palaces south of the city. Overhead, US warplanes were flying around the clock, coordinating precision strikes in support of upcoming ground attacks.
In northern Iraq, BBC correspondent John Simpson reported that he was in a convoy of Kurdish and American fighters when it was bombed by a US plane, killing 10 to 12 people. Simpson said he and his translator were injured.
According to Turkish television reports, three US soldiers and 12 Kurdish fighters were killed, and more than 40 people were injured in the bombing. Some of the casualties reportedly were taken to a hospital in the Kurdish-controlled city of Irbil, including the younger brother of prominent Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani.
In Moscow, the Kremlin said a convoy of Russian Embassy diplomats came under fire yesterday, and some were wounded, as they were evacuating from Baghdad and starting to drive toward Syria.
In Basra, British forces have set up checkpoints in the city for the first time. Until now, they had stayed on the outskirts, hoping that the predominantly Shiite Muslim populace of Basra would turn against the pro-Saddam militiamen defending Iraq's second-biggest city.
RSS