- BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S.
forces thrust into the heart of Baghdad on Saturday as the 17-day-old war
to topple President Saddam Hussein moved into a decisive new phase.
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- "We now do have troops in the city of Baghdad, we've
moved right up the middle," a U.S. military spokesman said.
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- "We've seen some sporadic fighting throughout the
night and we're continuing to move right up into the heart of the city,"
Capt. Frank Thorp told MSNBC television.
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- "The members of the first Marine Expeditionary Force
and the V Corps continue to take the fight to the enemy. We're taking opportunities
to move forward," he said.
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- Thorp said U.S. forces had clashed with a small number
of Iraq's elite Special Republican Guard and the Marines had "penetrated"
the Nida Division of the Republican Guard.
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- There was no immediate comment from the Iraqi authorities.
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- The push into central Baghdad followed a blistering overnight
air and artillery barrage against its eastern flank.
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- U.S. military sources said at least 20 Abrams battle
tanks and 10 Bradley fighting vehicles rumbled up a southern highway through
the city's Dawra suburb before swinging west and linking up with troops
around the airport southwest of the city center.
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- As the fighting came ever closer, many people fled in
cars packed with blankets and belongings, apparently heading out of the
city, Reuters correspondents reported.
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- The mood in the capital was grim.
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- "This is it. This is the final battle. We have no
way out. We are facing a reality now. We're confronting the mightiest army
in the world. What can we do? Where can we go? We're at a loss," said
Nour Khaled, 48, a mother of two.
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- At least five blasts rocked a central area in the morning.
Among targets hit was the previously bombed al-Mamoun communications center,
one of Baghdad's biggest.
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- INTENSE BOMBING
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- "The bombing has been very, very intense. There
are explosions to the southeast, the southwest and now near the center,"
said Reuters correspondent Hassan Hafidh.
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- He said a curtain of thick smoke stretched from the southwest
to the northwest of the city, possibly caused by the lighting of more oil
trenches. Iraqis lit trenches near the start of the war to try to confuse
U.S. pilots bombing Baghdad.
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- Artillery fire reverberated through the night after U.S.
forces seized the international airport, 12 miles southwest of the center
on Friday in a dramatic victory that drew an Iraqi threat to retaliate
in unconventional style.
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- Iraq has denied that U.S.-led troops are closing in,
describing those at the airport as an "isolated island."
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- U.S. commanders moved to beef up their presence at the
airport overnight, calling in soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division
and the 94th battalion to reinforce the 3rd Infantry Division which spearheaded
the attack on the facility.
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- The extra troops brought the number of American soldiers
at the airport to about 1,500. There was no sign there of the "nonconventional"
attack or "martyrdom operation" threatened by Iraqi Information
Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf on Friday.
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- Iraqi officials say thousands of Arab volunteers are
ready for suicide missions against U.S. and British forces.
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- An Iraqi military communique read on television on Saturday
said: "The enemy attacked our position near Baghdad last night,"
and it was defeated by army and Fedayeen paramilitary units.
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- TV SHOWS SADDAM
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- In an apparent effort to rally the Iraqi people, state
television showed footage of a man it said was Saddam touring the streets
of his bombed capital on Friday.
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- Smiling, he greeted mobs of chanting admirers, smoke
rising from fires burning in the distance. Some people kissed him on his
cheeks and hands and he held up a small child. "We'll defend you with
our blood and souls, Saddam," one man told him.
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- Outside the capital, a U.S. officer said on Saturday
that first tests of a white powder found in thousands of boxes indicated
it was not a chemical weapon.
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- "On first analysis it does not appear to be a chemical
that could be used in a chemical weapons attack," said Col. John Peabody,
commander of the Engineer Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division. He said
most of it appeared to be the nerve gas antidote atropine, and another
chemical.
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- Washington launched the war vowing to oust Saddam and
rid Iraq of chemical and biological weapons. Baghdad denies having such
arms and invasion forces have yet to find any.
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- Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an interview
published on Saturday there was no desire to besiege Baghdad.
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- "We hope there will be no siege. I don't know how
they will carry out a siege and I don't think they will implement it by
closing off a city whose residents total five million people," he
told the London-based Arabic language al-Hayat newspaper.
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