Washington: On the second day of US-led war to disarm Saddam Hussein, Iraqi troops have already begun to surrender when they see US and allied forces approaching, Pentagon has claimed, even as an Arab satellite channel on March 21 showed pictures of at least two Iraqis surrendering.

The al-Jazeera broadcast had images of two men, which the channel described as Iraqis, believed to be soldiers, surrendering to British troops in Southern Iraq.

The men, in civilian clothes, were shown kneeling on a desert road, with one of them waving a white flag in surrender.

Pentagon officials said the surrenders have not become a flood yet, but the operations are just beginning, but the "war for the liberation of Iraq" – the official phrase for the invasion of Iraq – is going on extremely well.

Unnamed sources were quoted by the media as saying that nobody now appears to be commanding the Iraqi military.

"There was no doubt that Saddam Hussein was meeting with top Iraqi leaders, including military commanders and his two sons, Uday and Qusay, in the building that was struck by two bombs from an Air Force F-117 stealth fighter," a US official said, according to the 'Washington Times'.

The only question is whether Saddam had left the building 30 minutes before the strike, or was still in the building, he said.

The strike was made possible by intelligence from special operations and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) teams inside the city, who pinpointed Saddam's location at a government building on Baghdad's Southern fringe.

The American clandestine teams work covertly and for all appearances are Iraqi denizens of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, navy cruise missiles hit leadership targets in Baghdad for the second day, though the US held off ordering the war's next stage, a massive air land and sea attack dubbed "shock and awe".

The uncertainty on whether Saddam is dead or alive is one factor in holding off on the promised bombardment, an official said.

Earlier, a British military spokesman in Qatar said British Royal Marines had established a beachhead on the strategic Fao peninsula of South East Iraq and taken control of key oil pumping equipment.

However, there has been no official acknowledgment from the British military command that any prisoners have been taken.

US units have been making every effort to encourage Iraqi soldiers to give themselves up or to show that they do not intend to fight back.

PTI