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U.S.: 'Baghdad is still an ugly place'
« on: Apr 10th, 2003, 8:43am » |
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U.S.: 'Baghdad is still an ugly place'
Kurds make gains in northern Iraq; coalition tightens control
Thursday, April 10, 2003 Posted: 9:25 AM EDT (1325 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Coalition forces encountered some pockets of fierce resistance Thursday as they worked to consolidate control of Baghdad and the rest of southern Iraq, while Kurdish Peshmerga fighters pushed into the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk.
"Baghdad is still an ugly place," said Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart, U.S. Central Command's director of operations, with many parts either still controlled by fighters loyal to Saddam Hussein or harboring such resistance.
At a briefing Thursday at Central Command headquarters in Qatar, Renuart said coalition forces were working to establish stability in the Iraqi capital.
U.S. forces engaged in heavy fighting Thursday near a mosque in north-central Baghdad, where they believed that senior Iraqi leadership officials were meeting, Central Command said.
"Our troops took heavy fire from the vicinity of this mosque and another location and were engaged in a heavy firefight for a number of hours," Renuart said.
The Iraqi fighters were captured or killed, he said.
U.S. forces suffered a small number of casualties in the fight, and no leadership officials were found, Central Command said.
Kurdish troops, backed by U.S. special forces, have taken partial control of the outskirts of Kirkuk, and CNN's Ben Wedeman reported that Iraqi forces in the north are rapidly collapsing.
The Peshmerga seized control of Kirkuk's northwestern outskirts, where they met little resistance. After the ousting of Iraqi forces, residents began looting.
The Peshmerga have taken control of some 286 villages in northern Iraq, CNN's Brent Sadler reported, after aircraft launched the U.S.-led coalition's heaviest wave of bombing along the northern front early Thursday.
In Altun Kupri, a town northwest of Kirkuk, Iraqi soldiers retreated and surrendered, many wandering aimlessly, Wedeman reported. Some former Iraqi fighters said that they were happy to hear Saddam's regime had collapsed in Baghdad.
U.S. Marines patrolled darkened streets early Thursday in the capital, where electricity remained off in many areas and Abrams M1A1 tanks and other armored vehicles were positioned.
Cheering crowds of Iraqis greeted U.S. troops Wednesday when they moved into the center of the city, and spontaneous celebrations and outbreaks of looting were seen in several parts of Baghdad.
Cautiousness, notably among draft-age Iraqi men, has replaced some of Wednesday's exuberance, CNN's Walter Rodgers reported. Friendly smiles and greetings were common from women and children, who were moving about in small groups, Rodgers said.
U.S. forces drove back resistance fighters who tried to cross the Tigris River by boat overnight, said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks on Thursday.
Coalition forces largely control all the major southern and central cities, including Basra, Nasiriya, Najaf, Hillah, Karbala and Baghdad, as well as the port of Umm Qasr and southern oil fields.
Renuart said that U.S. special forces troops control much of the road leading from Baghdad to Syria and were conducting operations against Republican Guard forces in the border town of Qaim.
Renuart said coalition forces were making gains in the area around the northern city of Mosul but said there were "no substantial U.S. forces in Tikrit," Saddam's ancestral home.
Meanwhile, international aid agencies urgently pleaded for access and security to provide help.
While many aid groups acknowledged coalition forces had cleared the way for assistance to reach the Iraqis, they expressed fear the ensuing chaos and power vacuum would endanger workers and halt their efforts.
The coalition is working with leaders in Iraqi towns and villages to establish order and begin work on a new government, said Renuart.
He said soldiers with the Army's 101st Airborne Division found four warehouses of food in a search for resistance in Hillah in central Iraq and began distributing it to Iraqis.
Other developments
U.S. officials plan to broadcast Thursday a videotaped message from President Bush to the Iraqis, telling them that "at this moment the regime of Saddam Hussein is being removed from power." British Prime Minister Tony Blair also has recorded a message that will be broadcast in Iraq. The Pentagon plans to start distributing a newspaper Saturday, U.S. officials said.
Residents of Amarah, an Iraqi town southeast of Baghdad, led U.S. Marines to a soccer stadium Thursday where Saddam's regime had hidden an al-Samoud missile, CNN's Bob Franken reported. It was not clear whether the missile violated the range of 150 kilometers (93 miles) set under U.N. sanctions.
The United States has moved its newest -- and biggest -- conventional bomb to the Persian Gulf region, Pentagon officials said Wednesday. The officials said a single, 21,000-pound MOAB bomb has been moved to an undisclosed forward base. The bomb, nicknamed the "mother of all bombs," is officially known as the Massive Ordnance Air Blast.
Central Command said a Marine with the 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, was killed Tuesday in the southeastern outskirts of Baghdad when sniper fire hit him. The Marine's name was not been released pending notification of next of kin.
A U.S. military convoy coming into Baghdad from the east overnight encountered sniper and mortar fire, causing it to backtrack and enter the city at first light Thursday. According to Agence France Presse reporter Luke Hunt, traveling with the 1st Marine Regiment, a civilian vehicle also rammed the convoy. Hunt said the convoy eventually entered the city through an industrial suburb, where 2,000 to 3,000 civilians were heading toward the center of town.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld issued a new warning to Syria, saying some intelligence reports indicate the country was offering safe passage to members of Iraq's senior leadership and allowing some military equipment to move into Iraq. "We find it notably unhelpful," Rumsfeld said Wednesday. Asked what kind of action Syria might face, Rumsfeld replied, "We're still dealing with Iraq."
U.S. officials said it was unclear whether Saddam was dead or alive after Monday's strike on a building where he was believed to have been meeting with officials. Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress, an opposition group, said he had received unconfirmed reports that Saddam and at least one of his sons had escaped to Baquba, a town northeast of the capital.
CNN Correspondents Rula Amin, David Ensor, Tom Mintier, Diana Muriel, Walter Rodgers, Brent Sadler, Martin Savidge, Barbara Starr and Ben Wedeman contributed to this report.
EDITOR'S NOTE: CNN's policy is to not report information that puts operational security at risk.
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