Kerbala secured as Baghdad offensive looms

Baghdad - US forces today secured the central Iraqi city of Kerbala and a strategically important Tigris river crossing in their push to Baghdad.

Commanders of the US 3rd Infantry Division had expected a day-long battle to seize the perimeter of the city, which is 70 miles to the south of Baghdad, but the operation lasted three hours.

Rather than tackling Iraqi soldiers inside, the US soldiers secured all major exit routes and continued the drive north.

"Right now things are going pretty well. We've secured the positions we wanted to around Kerbala," said Colonel John Peabody, commander of an engineer brigade.

Up to 15,000 US troops have massed around Kerbala waiting to pour across the Euphrates - the last major natural obstacle standing between them and Baghdad on the south-western approach to the capital.

US marines later took control of the main Highway 6 from Kut to Baghdad - the eastern flank of the advance - and seized a Tigris river crossing one senior officer said was the "last big bridge" needed for an advance on the Iraqi capital.

He said the Baghdad Division of Iraq's Republican Guard, based at Kut, was now "irrelevant".

Pentagon officials have said the Republican Guard must be eliminated before ground troops move on to Baghdad.

General Richard Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said the Medina and Baghdad units had been heavily worn down, and elements of two of Iraq's northernmost Republican Guard divisions - the Adnan and Nebuchadnezzar - were moving south towards Baghdad, apparently to reinforce units under attack.

A new statement from Saddam Hussein broadcast today by Iraqi satellite television said the Iraqi armed forces had not used their full capabilities in the war.

"Fight them. Victory is at hand, God willing, although we have only utilised a third or less of our army while the criminals have used everything they brought in.

"Their failure was manifested and victory is glowing, God willing."

The statement singled out the 11th Division of the Iraqi army and Ba'ath Party members in Nasiriyah and other southern towns who have "exhausted" the coalition forces and urged Iraqis to follow their example in defending their cities.

Iraq's defence minister, Sultan Hashem Ahmed, claimed aerial bombardment of Republican Guard positions south of Baghdad had caused minimal damage, because of "good fortifications".

"The Republican Guard corps are in their best morale and will inflict damage on the enemy that it had never seen before," he said.

Fighting has continued in the holy city of Najaf, where US troops backed by helicopters, A-10 Warthog warplanes and RAF Tornados attacked Fedayeen militia fighters.

US central command in Qatar said Iraqis fired from inside the Ali mosque in the city, an important Shia Muslim shrine where Mohammed's charismatic son-in-law, Ali, is commemorated, but its troops did not return fire. The claim was not be independently confirmed.

"The Iraqi regime's use of the Ali mosque for military purposes is just the latest example of the regime's continued strategy of placing sacred sites in Iraq in jeopardy," the US official said.

Lieutenant Colonel Chris Holden of 101st Airborne said the city was a centre of the irregulars' unexpected resistance.

"The target is to destroy Fedayeen units and anyone else trying to disrupt our lines of communication," he said. "We are going to destroy them."

British forces reported a quiet night in southern Iraq after US troops advanced toward Basra in the north.

But a lull in fighting was broken when British tanks fired on a building on the city's edge where soldiers believed to be Iraqi paramilitary fighters launched a mortar attack against a military checkpoint.

"The Challenger tanks are pressing forward to try to find out where the mortars are coming from," said Sergeant Pete Clifford, a tank commander.

British forces have besieged Basra since reaching its outskirts at the start of the 14-day war.

Some Iraqi soldiers have managed to escape and surrendered to the British troops.

In the capital, explosions and anti-aircraft fire were again heard as the aerial bombardment began shortly before dawn after an unusual lull in bombing for most of the night.

A presidential compound on the banks of the Tigris where President Saddam's son Qusay has his headquarters was hit, and sustained explosions pounded Republican Guard positions on the southern edge of the city.

Smoke also rose to the east of the centre in an area where airforce and other military buildings are situated. Tracer fire lit the sky and warplanes could be heard flying overhead.

Reuters reporter Jon Hemming says US B-52 warplanes have bombed the northern Iraqi front line between the town of Dohuk and the city of Mosul.

Elsewhere in the north, British troops staged an "extraction mission" after al-Jazeera showed pictures of what it said was a special forces Land Rover captured near Mosul.

The Qatar-based channel said the Iraqis had killed 10 British troops and showed footage of local tribesmen driving the vehicle.

"There was some UK forces equipment lost in Iraq, because obviously this equipment was shown on al-Jazeera television, and an extraction operation was mounted," a Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said.

The Iraqi information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, yesterday claimed Iraqi forces had thwarted a landing by British troops near Mosul, killing some while others fled.

He said the Iraqis had seized most of the troops' equipment and vehicles.

"It is a complete defeat. Amazingly the Americans have pushed the British to do that. They pushed them ahead as if it is an experiment. The result was very tragic for the British," he said.

British military spokesmen said they knew nothing of British forces trying to land in northern Iraq.

US marines staged a decoy attack on targets in Nassiriya to allow special forces to rescue a soldier, Private Jessica Lynch, 19, held prisoner by Iraqi troops, it was announced today.

Private Lynch was captured on March 23, one of 15 soldiers listed missing, captured or killed when a 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company convoy made a wrong turn and came under attack from Iraqi tanks and fighters.

Five of the captives, but not Private Lynch, were shown on Iraqi television as well as the bloodied bodies of up to eight men, prompting the US president, George Bush, to warn Iraqis they would be punished as "war criminals" if they mistreated prisoners.

Captain Jay La Rossa, spokesman for the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, said special forces also found the bodies of two US soldiers and eight Iraqis.

He said the identities of the Americans were not known but they were thought to be among those ambushed last month.

Private Lynch was stable and in good condition but CNN reported she had suffered multiple gunshot wounds at some point during her ordeal that made it hard to move her. US military officials said she had a broken arm and two broken legs.

The marines' decoy attack involved a number of targets, including an artillery and air attack on a Ba'ath party headquarters. -- Guardian News

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