Dubai: Coalition forces moved closer to Baghdad in what is being seen as a decisive
phase in the US-led war but were facing stiff resistance on multiple fronts, mainly
in the strategic port city of Basra and Nasiriyah in the South.
Strategic bombing raids on Baghdad continued for the sixth day with US helicopter
gunships and warplanes attacking positions held by Republican Guards outside the
capital.
An Iraqi carried out a suicide attack in the Southern region of Fao overnight and
destroyed a coalition tank, an Iraqi military spokesman said.
"The first suicide attack was carried out this night," Hazem al-Rawi told reporters
in Baghdad. There was no immediate confirmation of the report.
Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf claimed that Iraq's ruling Baath
Party's guerrillas killed eight coalition soldiers, downed three helicopters and
destroyed more than 30 military vehicles in intense fighting around Nasiriyah and
Muthanna.
He also claimed that 16 civilians have been killed and another 95 wounded in allied
bombing of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.
Reports reaching here from war zone said that US forces launched an all-night
artillery barrage over Baghdad pounding military targets and were 80 km away from
the capital.
British forces, who said taking of Basra has now become a military objective in
order to get humanitarian aid to civilians there, were involved in nearly a dozen
artillery engagements on the outskirts of the city, targeting Iraqi mortars and
tanks.
PTI
