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Iraq denies us entered baghdad { April 5 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://english.aljazeera.net/topics/article.asp?cu_no=1&item_no=1841&version=1&template_id=263&parent_id=258http://english.aljazeera.net/topics/article.asp?cu_no=1&item_no=1841&version=1&template_id=263&parent_id=258
Sutarday 05, April, 2003 / Last Updated: 3:18PM Doha time, 8:18PM GMT
Iraq denies US claims to have entered Baghdad
Heavy fighting erupted on Saturday between the US Marines and Iraqi forces trying to beat off invading troops as the invading forces claimed that their armoured columns have moved deep into Baghdad for the first time.
A US commander said around 1,000 Iraqi troops had been killed in the drive into the battered city, and an AFP reporter saw dozens of Iraqi military vehicles burning in the streets.
"It was hell," said Kamal, an electrician from the Yarmuk district in southwest Baghdad about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the city centre.
"The firepower was incredible. There was no let-up in the firing for three hours. Machine gun fire, light artillery and RPGs (Rocket-Propelled Grenades)," he said. "We were on a battlefield."
But Iraqi information Minister Mohammed Said Sahaf said in a press conference on Saturday that Baghdad was still under the firm control of Iraqi forces, denying US reports to have reached the centre of the capital.
“You can go and visit those places. Nothing there, nothing there at all. There are Iraqi checkpoints. Everything is okay,” he told the conference.
After the conference, a Reuters correspondent toured central and southern Baghdad and reported that no US troops were visible in these areas.
"I went to the southern outskirts, southeast, southwest, the presidential palaces, the main security buildings," correspondent Khaled Yacoub Oweis said after driving around the city. "I saw no American troops."
An AFP correspondent said dozens of destroyed Iraqi military vehicles were burning Saturday after clashes with US troops on the streets of a Baghdad neighborhood close to the airport road.
Earlier in the day, US officials said they had entered the Iraqi capital. "We now do have troops in the city of Baghdad, we've moved right up the middle," a US military spokesman said. "We've seen some sporadic fighting throughout the night and we're continuing to move right up into the heart of the city," Captain Frank Thorp told MSNBC television.
US military sources said fierce clashes had erupted when a tank battalion task force from the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division was travelling along a road from Saddam International Airport, 20 kilometres to the southwest.
The sources also said that US forces have asked for air support to help strengthen troops combating Iraqis armed with tanks and firing from the perimeter fence on the northern side of the airport.
However, Sahaf insisted that Iraqi forces had succeeded in expelling the coalition troops from the airport, which US military officials said was under their control on Friday. He said that he was planning to organise a trip for journalists to the airport to prove that the coalition troops were chased out of the airport.
Earlier in the morning, US military officials said their tanks had carried on with their thrust into southern Baghdad, which was the main target for overnight attacks, and came to the closest land advance to the Iraqi capital since the US-led war to oust President Saddam Hussein started 17 days ago.
At least 30 tanks, including 20 Abrams battle tanks and 10 Bradley fighting vehicles, rumbled up the main southern highway into Baghdad through the Dawra suburb about 12-14 km from the center of the capital.
The sources from the 3rd Infantry Division said that the Iraqi forces were forming a loop from a highway that leads into Baghdad to Saddam International Airport which was seized by US troops on Friday.
"It seems that they are moving to link up with forces near the airport," Baker said. Baghdad airport is about 20 km to the southwest of the city centre.
"They are trying to cut off Highway 8 (leading into Baghdad)...and they are turning west towards the airport," he said.
But Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Said Sahaf said Iraqi forces have expelled US troops from Baghdad airport.
He also said it forces were beating off US attack on positions near Baghdad as more loud explosions reverberated through the city overnight.
The bombing resumed in the morning with at least five large explosions heard to the east of the city centre. "The bombing has been very, very intense. There are explosions to the southeast, the southwest and now near the centre," said a Reuters correspondent.
Al-Jazeera correspondent, Maher Abdallah, also reported that explosions were heard to the east of Baghdad from the direction of the airport.
As the fighting came closer to the city, many people fled in cars packed with blankets and belongings. "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.
But just earlier, residents of Baghdad, who suffered an eight-year war with neighbouring Iran and the devastating 1991 Gulf War, ventured out of their homes to buy provisions. Water and electricity supplies are still cut off in the capital.
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