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Baghdad airport heavy fighting { April 4 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2915657.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2915657.stm
Last Updated: Friday, 4 April, 2003, 04:48 GMT 05:48 UK
Baghdad airport 'in US hands'
United States troops are in control of Baghdad's international airport, a US commander said.
The airport was taken overnight by troops of the 3rd Infantry Division, said Lieutenant-Colonel Scott Rutter, commander of the division's 2nd Battalion.
US reports speak of at least 320 Iraqi soldiers killed in the fighting which continued into Friday morning.
Nobody should be euphoric that now that we are on the edge of Baghdad this thing is just about over
US General Richard Myers
Saddam Hussein's government has been denying any fighting at the airport, saying coalition forces are 100 miles from the Iraqi capital.
The BBC's Paul Wood, who is in the Iraqi capital, says that the battle of Baghdad has effectively begun.
General Richard Myers, the top US military officer, warned that there were "still a lot of tough fights ahead".
"Nobody should be euphoric that now that we are on the edge of Baghdad this thing is just about over," he said. "That's not true."
In other developments: Ayatollah Sistani, a prominent cleric for Iraq's majority Shia Muslims, issues an edict calling on people to remain calm and not hinder operations by coalition forces
US serviceman killed by friendly fire in central Iraq after being mistaken for an Iraqi soldier while he was investigating a destroyed tank
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld rules out any peace deal which would allow Saddam Hussein to remain in power in Iraq
US Secretary of State Colin Powell says the United Nations will have a role in running post-war Iraq but coalition members must have the leading role in deciding the way forward
Heavy bombardment
This first land fighting in Baghdad, only 20 kilometres (12 miles) south-west of the city centre, erupted on Thursday evening after a ferocious bombardment.
Baghdad was plunged into darkness overnight by its first blackout of the war which cut in as the bombardment of the airport began.
Western correspondents travelling with the US Army said light tanks moved into the airport late on Thursday, encountering only light resistance on the way in.
But large explosions continued to shake both the airport district and the city centre and fighting was still in progress at dawn.
A Reuters correspondent in Baghdad counted as many as 100 explosions through the night coming from the direction of the airport.
Siege mentality
With electricity cut off, Paul Wood reports, the population spent Thursday the night gathered around candlelight and listening to the explosions.
Power in the city went off as the bombardment began, the lights disappearing in district after district.
PUSH FOR BAGHDAD
It is unclear if coalition action caused the blackout or the Iraqi authorities switched off the power themselves.
General Myers has denied targeting the power grid and coalition forces have repeatedly stressed they do not want to damage civilian infrastructure.
General Myers has given an indication of possible coalition strategy for the capital, saying it may try to isolate whatever is left of the leadership in Baghdad and make it increasingly irrelevant.
"This notion of a siege and so forth, I think is not the right mental picture," he added.
But our correspondent says that the stage is now set, indeed, for a long siege.
Iraq's influential Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, told Italian TV that any fight for Baghdad would be "huge and costly".
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/2915657.stm
Published: 2003/04/04 04:21:21
© BBC MMIII
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