US forces plunged into the heart of Baghdad yesterday, raiding Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces, while Britain said its troops had overrun the southern city of Basra and there was strong evidence key Saddam ally "Chemical Ali" had been killed.
Baghdad echoed to big explosions and the rattle of small-arms fire and its skyline was smeared with thick smoke as US tanks and armored personnel carriers sped in from the west to assault Saddam's symbols of power, while Marines advanced from the southeast.
PHOTO: AP
But US officers described it as a tactical raid to give a "powerful message" to the Iraqi regime, not the start of the much-expected final battle to seize the capital, one of Saddam's last strongholds.
From the west, three battalions of the US 3rd Infantry Division, comprising more than 100 tanks and fighting vehicles, pushed toward the western bank of the Tigris river.
They captured Saddam's main official residence in the heart of Baghdad, as well another palace in the city center and a third near the airport, said Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Bayer, the 3rd Infantry Division's operations officer.
"First Brigade attacked out of the airport this morning and has seized the presidential palace [nearby]," Bayer said. "There are two palaces [in the city center]; we own both of them."
From the southeast, US Marines entered Baghdad undeterred by the blowing up of two bridges on the Diyala River, which runs east of the Iraqi capital.
"We're in Baghdad and we're in Baghdad to stay," said Brigadier-General John Kelly, assistant commander of the First Marine Division.
He did not say how many Marines had entered the capital or how far they had penetrated.
But reporters saw two US armored vehicles and 10 Marines in full combat gear at Saddam's main presidential palace in the city center.
The US denied, though, that that this operation was the final drive for Baghdad, styling it more as a "raid through the city" to show military muscle.
"What this is is a powerful message that we can go where we want, when we want," Pentagon spokesman Major Ben Owens said. "We are not at this point going to say that this is the start of the Battle of Baghdad."
Reporters said there was a heavy exchange of mortar and rocket-propelled grenade fire at the main presidential palace. An arms depot had caught fire and thick white smoke covered the area, while fuel trenches inside the compound were set ablaze, belching out layers of black smoke.
As the fighting raged, the streets were all but deserted. Almost all shops in central Baghdad were closed and the station for buses out of the city was empty.
Even as the world's news media filmed US tanks as they rolled down the western bank of the Tigris, the Iraqi government insisted it was repelling the assault.
Smiling and defiant, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf held an impromptu press conference to urge the world not to believe US claims.
"Don't believe these invaders and these liars," he said. "There are none of their troops in Baghdad.
"We killed them, we made them drink poison and taught them a lesson that history will never forget," he added.
There were no immediate details from either side about the toll from the US operation.
But at least six US soldiers were wounded and six unaccounted for when an army position south of Baghdad was hit in a rocket attack, according to US military sources at Baghdad airport.
In the south of the country, British troops poured into the second largest city of Basra.
"The battle [for Basra] is more or less over now," Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Blackman of the 7th Armoured Brigade said.
"We are covering all the areas of Basra, including the old city. There are soldiers and armored vehicles inside [the old city] right now."
Royal Marine commandos seized Saddam's presidential palace in Basra and other troops were in control of the city's main university after killing a dozen Iraqi militiamen holed up there.
British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said there was strong evidence that Ali Hasan al-Majid, the notorious Iraqi official better known as "Chemical Ali," had been killed in an air strike three days earlier.
"We have some strong indications that he was killed in the raid conducted Friday night but I can't yet absolutely confirm the fact that he is dead," Hoon told a London press conference.
Ali, a cousin of Saddam, won his grisly nickname for ordering gas attacks that killed thousands of Kurds in 1988.
Many Iraqis gave a rousing welcome to US Marines as they closed on the last 80km of their drive toward Baghdad, and there were similar scenes of jubilation in Basra.
US and British forces in southern Iraq are being bolstered by Iraqi opposition fighters, who were being flown in by the Pentagon.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from