Dubai: Tightening their hold on Baghdad, US tanks and armoured vehicles on April 5 rolled into the city clashing with Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard amidst claims and counterclaims by the two warring sides that the international airport on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital was under their respective control.

American troops launched the raid in the early hours and at one point claimed to have reached the centre of the capital.

American television station Fox News showed footage of armoured vehicles firing on trucks and cars on the road to the airport in the West of the city.

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A spokesman at US Central Command described the operation as the beginning of "rolling patrols".

However, claims by US spokesmen that their forces reached the centre of the city were dismissed by Iraq, which said the US forces were repulsed when they tried to advance to the city from the South.

"We were able to chop off their rotten heads," Iraqi military said in a statement read on satellite television.

Although the US military also claimed that it was in full control of the Saddam International airport, seized on April 4, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf dismissed it saying Iraqi forces had expelled US troops from the airport and inflicted heavy losses on the Americans.

"The Republican Guard is in full control of Saddam International Airport," he said.

A US Cobra Attack helicopter crashed in Central Iraq killing two pilots.

PTI