US forces close in on embattled Baghdad

Bombs and artillery crashed around Baghdad yesterday, flooding hospitals with casualties as US forces said they had almost encircled the battered capital.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's information minister insisted loyalist forces were pushing back the invaders.

But US troops fighting to break Saddam's hold on power said they had cut most approaches to the sprawling capital of five million people, the biggest prize in the 18-day-old war.

"We're just about there," Colonel Will Grimsley of the US 3rd Infantry Division told Reuters correspondent Luke Baker when asked if US forces controlled all access to the capital.

As if to emphasise the point, the first US military aircraft, a C-130, landed at Baghdad's international airport about one hour after nightfall.

US military maps seen by Reuters showed only one main road, Highway 2, remained to be secured on the outskirts of the capital. It leads north to the oil city of Kirkuk.

"Look at it from this point of view - 1st Brigade holds the airport and the west of Baghdad, the 2nd Brigade is securing the south, the 3rd Brigade is holding the northwest and the Marines are in the northeast," Grimsley said.

Russia said a convoy carrying its ambassador and other Russian diplomats from Baghdad was attacked and four or five people were wounded. The US military said the area was under Iraqi control. There was no immediate comment from the Iraqis.

Mortar and artillery fire thundered over Baghdad during the day. Shops were shuttered and streets deserted.

"It is getting dangerous. The battle is in Baghdad now," said Haitham Abdel-Rahman, 45, a mechanical engineer.

By night, a power cut plunged the city into darkness as the sound of heavy machineguns, multiple-rocket launchers and artillery ripped the air.

US Marines battled for a road bridge over a tributary of the Tigris river in the city's southeastern outskirts.

Reuters correspondent Matthew Green said Marines backed by artillery, tanks and attack helicopters were firing at Iraqi forces on the far side of the river. The bridge was damaged in the clash and it was unclear if it could be swiftly repaired.

Panicked residents fled the fighting for Baghdad. With temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius, thousands of families set out on foot and in overloaded cars.

Their exodus was slowed by the flow of US military convoys rumbling towards Baghdad along roads and through marshland dotted with the bodies of Iraqi soldiers and charred vehicles.

A US spokesmen said about 2,000 Iraqi soldiers had been killed since the assault on Baghdad's outskirts began.

No toll for civilian casualties in Baghdad was available, but International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman Roland Huguenin-Benjamin told Reuters: "During fierce bombardment, hospitals received up to 100 casualties per hour."

With many medical staff unable to reach hospital due to the bombing, doctors were performing everything from surgery to taking blood, giving injections and ferrying the wounded.

"I've been a doctor for 25 years and this is the worst I've seen in terms of number of casualties and fatal wounds," said Osama Saleh al-Duleimi, 48, who has witnessed two previous wars.

Apart from cutting approach roads, US troops were also building up their strength at Baghdad's international airport.

Colonel John Peabody, commander of the Engineer Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, told Reuters about 7,000 troops were now at the airport, 20 kilometres southwest of the capital.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said forces loyal to Saddam continued to fight invading troops.

"The valiant Republican Guards are encircling the enemy near the airport. We destroyed six tanks and damaged 10 others and killed 50 of the enemies' forces," he told a news conference.

An Iraqi military spokesman said Iraqi forces had fired five missiles at US troops on the edge of Baghdad.

US troops hunted for weapons and concealed Iraqi fighters in the Shi'ite Muslim shrine city of Kerbala, securing the rear of forces rapidly building their presence around Baghdad.

"The Fedayeen have lost a powerbase," Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Holden, of the 101st Airborne Division, told Reuters correspondent Kieran Murray.

"All roads here lead to Baghdad and now we can drive those roads. They are secure, the threat of ambush is very minimal."

Reuters correspondent Andrew Gray, also with US forces in Kerbala, watched as residents hauled down a bronze statue of Saddam, after US soldiers had weakened it with a blowtorch.

Kerbala staged a revolt after the 1991 Gulf War. Saddam's troops crushed the uprising, unimpeded by US forces.