US forces occupy palaces

US forces were tonight occupying Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces after mounting a far-reaching move into Baghdad which struck at the heart of the Iraqi regime.

Troops with tanks remained inside two blitzed palace compounds as night fell and intermittent artillery exchanges continued to ring out after a day of fierce fighting across the capital.

Military forces said the decision to stay in the city centre overnight would send a signal of how determined the Americans are to take control of Baghdad and overthrow Saddam.

More than 70 tanks and 60 Bradley fighting vehicles swept into the city on the western side of the Tigris at 7am local time (0400 BST), pushing further into the capital than at any time since the war began on March 20.

Television pictures showed US armoured vehicles pull up alongside the main presidential palace on the banks of the Tigris, and its defenders fleeing.

Fox News reporters also filmed soldiers on the Baghdad parade ground, which is marked by a ceremonial arch formed from two crossed swords.

US forces set up a mobile command centre in the new presidential palace, but the area around it was described as a no man's land. Explosions continued to rock the west bank this afternoon as a fierce battle for control raged on.

Three miles away to the east, there was also continuing resistance around the old palace.

Shortly after 2.30pm local time (1130 BST), three bombs fell in southern Baghdad as the aerial assault resumed.

Reuters correspondent Samia Nakhoul said that the city was like a battle zone. "It's shaking with the thud of explosions crashing everywhere, between homes in residential areas. People are indoors because shells are crashing over our heads. Artillery is crashing everywhere."

Three houses in Baghdad's al-Mansour area were later destroyed in what neighbours claimed was an allied missile attack which left a crater yards deep. Two bodies were recovered, but rescue workers said it was feared the toll may be as high as 14.

Doctors at the Kindi hospital on the outskirts of the city confirmed they had taken in four dead and 176 injured in the last 24 hours. Surgeons have been working around the clock for the past two days and supplies are running low, according to Red Cross officials.

A US military spokesman, Captain Frank Thorp, at central command in Qatar, said today's raids were part of a continuing effort to bring down the Iraqi leadership and "not to take ground".

He said that troops had set up checkpoints on all major arteries into Baghdad to stop Iraqi military movement, but that civilians would be allowed to come and go freely.

It remains unclear how long US forces plan to maintain their positions in the heart of the city. Ceding captured territory would allow Iraq to claim that it had repelled the soldiers in the battle of perceptions between the two sides.

Asked if troops might stay in Baghdad, Navy Lt Mark Kitchens, a central command spokesman, said: "I think that would be a possibility."

Two US soldiers and two journalists were killed and 15 people wounded in an attack on a US communications centre on the southern outskirts of Baghdad during today's operation, military sources told Reuters.

On the eastern approach to the city, two US marines were killed and several wounded when a shell hit their amphibious assault vehicle as they fought for bridges across the Diyala river, a tributary of the Tigris sweeping around the eastern outskirts.

Summit begins in Northern Ireland

As coalition forces continued to make inroads in Iraq, George Bush and Tony Blair were tonight meeting in Northern Ireland for talks about the final stages of the military campaign and post-conflict plans.

The secretary of state, Colin Powell, who is also attending the summit, confirmed that Washington would send a team to Iraq this week to begin looking at what is needed to set up an interim Iraqi authority.

The Iraqi information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, meanwhile offered his version of events, rejecting all reports that the US had seized key sites in Baghdad. Speaking at an impromptu press conference outside the Palestine Hotel, he said the US forces would continue to be "slaughtered".

"Their infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of Baghdad. Be assured, Baghdad is safe, protected. Iraqis are heroes," Mr al-Sahaf said.

As the fighting continued within the city, unconfirmed reports of a chemical weapons find outside were beginning to emerge.

Citing a senior US marine official source, the US news station National Public Radio (NPR) reported that around 20 medium-range missiles equipped with sarin and mustard gas had been discovered "ready to fire".

NPR said that the cache was reportedly discovered by marines with the 101st Airborne Division, which was following up behind the army after it had seized Baghdad's international airport. There was no immediate official reaction to the report.

Full story: US troops enter Saddam's palace

'Chemical Ali found dead'

Ali Hassan al-Majid, who earned the grisly sobriquet Chemical Ali for ordering a poison gas attack that killed thousands of Kurds, has been found dead, the Associated Press reported.

Major Andrew Jackson, of the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment, said that the body was found along with that of his bodyguard and the head of Iraqi intelligence services in Basra.

Al-Majid was a first cousin of President Saddam, who had entrusted him with the defence of southern Iraq against the invading forces.

He had previously led campaigns against the Kurds in the 80s, of which the Halabja poison gas attack was the most notorious, and is linked to a bloody crackdown against the Shias in southern Iraq after the last Gulf war.

He was apparently killed on Saturday when two coalition aircraft used laser-guided munitions to attack his house in Basra.
Full story: Chemical Ali 'found dead'

British hold 'most' of Basra

The discovery of Chemical Ali's body came as British light-armoured infantry - 50 to 75 vehicles and 700 troops - pushed into Basra, believing that resistance might fall apart with the city's leadership gone.

Captain Al Lockwood, a British military spokesman, said that the army was in control of most of Iraq's second city, but continued to face some resistance.

He also confirmed that three British soldiers were killed in fighting.

An MoD spokesman named one of the casualties as Fusilier Kelan John Turrington, 18, a member of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. He is the youngest Briton to have died in the conflict.

After a two-week siege, soldiers from the 7th Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats, pushed through Basra's outskirts from the south-west in a bid to stamp out resistance from paramilitary forces loyal to President Saddam.

The breakthrough came when a second attack was launched hours later by Royal Marines from 3 Commando Brigade, with support from 59 Independent Commando Squadron, Royal Engineers.

The decision to finally seize control of the city was prompted by intelligence from local people,who indicated that many Ba'ath party loyalists had fled.

Troops are now testing their hold of the city after encountering "patchy resistance" from isolated pockets of militia, light fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

Air Marshal Brian Burridge, commander of British forces in the Gulf, said that the advance was "historic".

"After decades under the heel of Saddam's brutal regime, UK forces are in the process of delivering liberation to the people of Basra," Burridge said at US central command.

Adding a note of caution, he warned of difficult days ahead, saying: "Paramilitary resistance from the remnants of the regime will not just disappear. We must proceed carefully to reduce the risk to both the civilian population and to our own forces. This all takes time."

The defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, said that British troops were now in the city to stay.

"I'm enormously proud of them: they've done a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances," Mr Hoon said.

He also warned that the forces now in Baghdad were facing tough resistance from Iraqis loyal to the regime, but insisted: "Saddam Hussein's regime is coming to an end, and a better future is in sight for the Iraqi people."

Mr Hoon said reports on the whereabouts of Saddam and his two sons, Uday and Qusai, were beginning to come in, but gave no further details.

Full story: Looting in Basra