US forces broke through elite Iraqi divisions to within 30km of Baghdad yesterday, using air power to back the swiftest advance of the war.Lara Marlowe reports from outside Baghdad.
US Marines seized an important bridge over the Tigris river, and then pushed along its northern bank towards the Iraqi capital. Meanwhile, the 3rd Infantry Division thrust northwards after encircling the Shia Muslim shrine city of Karbala.
A military source confirmed vanguard units were just 30km from the southern edges of the capital.
Some troops had crossed to the east bank of the Euphrates, bridging the main natural obstacle on their route to Baghdad.
Forces heading up the Tigris valley from the south-east were as close as 40km. "The dagger is clearly pointed at the heart of the Baghdad regime," said US Brig Gen Vincent Brooks.
The two powerful US columns are now closing on the capital from the south and south-east after an aerial bombardment which battered elite units guarding the city for more than a week.
However, according to defence experts, US troops were likely to need another four to eight weeks to take Baghdad.
Brig Gen Brooks said the thrusts had taken some US troops across a "red line" around Baghdad which the military believe could trigger a poison-gas attack by Iraqi forces.
"If it's used, we'll be prepared for it being used," he said. "It causes us to maintain protective postures of our forces as they approach this area, but it doesn't make us stop."
He said the notional line was based on the radius of weapons systems that might be used, and on where the military thought the threat to the regime might be seen as greatest.
He said US troops had destroyed the Baghdad Division of the Republican Guard near the town of Kut, 170km south-east of Baghdad, and had fought two other Guard divisions.
However, Iraq dismissed as illusions reports that US forces had crossed the Tigris or made gains elsewhere.
An army spokesman said the Baghdad Division was in control and "enjoys high morale to fight the enemy and destroy it".
Helicopters and fighter planes attacked Fedayeen militia active in Najaf, another Shia shrine city in central Iraq. Smoke rose over the city after British planes bombed the ruling Ba'ath Party headquarters.
Two huge US bombs exploded near Kut, sending up giant mushroom clouds.
The advances on the Euphrates and Tigris, which flows through Baghdad, came after US troops halted their push towards the capital for several days to bolster vulnerable supply lines.
Iraqi Information Minister Mr Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said air strikes had killed 24 civilians and wounded 186 in the past 24 hours, with 10 dead and 90 wounded in Baghdad alone.
"No matter how many Iraqi civilians they kill, this will make us even stronger and even more determined to repel the invasion and to defeat them," he said.
Iraqi television said President Saddam met officials, including his two sons, Uday and Qusay, but showed no footage. Messages read on his behalf urged Iraqis to wage holy war on the invaders.
In north Iraq, B-52s pummelled frontlines near Mosul city, and bombed targets near the oil hub of Kirkuk.
In Baghdad, Reuters reporter Samia Nakhoul reported bombs killed several motorists and hit a Red Crescent hospital.
At least five cars were crushed, their drivers burned to death.
Hospital sources said at least 25 people, including patients, were wounded in daylight raids which also pulverised buildings in a trade fair next to a government security office. - (Reuters)