Dubai: With the likelihood of a longer war in Iraq than anticipated, the US on March 28 announced sending 1.2 lakh more troops to boost its forces even as its senior ground commander admitted that the stiff Iraqi resistance is slowing the progress of the invading forces.

The US, which has already 90,000 ground troops in Iraq since the start of the invasion on March 20, is sending another 1,20,000 troops to the region, a Pentagon official said in Washington as two huge 'bunker buster' bombs blasted Iraq's communication centre in Baghdad and fighting raged in strategic towns in the South.

Among the units with orders to deploy to the region are the 1st Armored Division n Germany, the 1st Cavalry Division in Texas and the 2nd and 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiments in Louisiana and Colorado, the official said.

The US Army senior ground commander in Iraq, Gen William Wallace, said tougher-than- expected Iraqi forces have stalled the US drive towards Baghdad.

Long supply lines and Iraqi guerrilla-style tactics have reduced the chances the swift military planners had hoped for, he said.

"The enemy we're fighting is different from the one we'd war-gamed against," Wallace told 'The Washington Post' at the Forward Operating Base Shell, in Iraq.

US forces moving through Southern Iraq have encountered much stiffer resistance than expected from lightly armed Iraqi irregulars who have attacked supply convoys and even armoured columns.

Iraq has warned that US-led troops will have to fight their way into Baghdad street- by-street.

"The enemy must come inside Baghdad and that will be its grave," said Iraqi Defence Minister Sultan Hashem Ahmed.

US President George Bush has said the coalition will fight for "however long it takes" to remove President Saddam Hussein from power.

Echoing similar views, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who met Bush on March 27, told the BBC that the war to topple the Iraqi leader would take time and have its "tough and difficult" moments.

Continuing its air strikes, the US B-52 stealth bomber dropped two 4,700-pound satellite-guided bunker buster bombs on Iraqi communication centre al-Maamun, next to the destroyed al-Salam palace in Baghdad.

However, the Iraqi resistance continued to slow the invading forces' drive towards the capital and other key cities like Basra and Nasiriyah.

In the latest reports from Basra, British troops positioned to the South and West of the city say they are have opened fire on the local Iraqi militia, who were allegedly shooting at between 1,000 and 2,000 people trying to escape.

PTI