MILITARY ACTION
In Baghdad, U.S. tanks sped through the streets in daylight, blasting trucks and other targets and taking fire in some sectors. U.S. jets and spy drones began round-the-clock patrols over the city. An Iraqi Republican Guard officer told U.S. interrogators that the assault on the city had caught Iraqi forces largely unaware.
In a marsh on the outskirts, Marines using bayonets fought hand-to-hand with militiamen from Egypt, the Sudan and other Arab countries. Iraqi officials were said to be abandoning Baghdad amid an exodus of civilian refugees.
Baghdad TV showed video of Saddam Hussein meeting with sons Uday and Qusay while U.S. soldiers probed an extensive warren of tunnels beneath Baghdad International Airport.
A bomb exploded outside the Palestine Hotel, home to foreign correspondents covering the war, hours after Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf gave interviews there.
In Basra, two U.S. warplanes bombed the home of Saddam's ally Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for his use of poison gas against the Kurds in 1988. Outside the city, British forces found a makeshift morgue containing about 200 bodies, possibly victims of a torture center. Some bodies showed signs of gunshot wounds to the head.
In Suwaurah, U.S. Army units captured the headquarters of the Republican Guard's Medina Division.
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CASUALTIES TO DATE
U.S. military: 79 dead.
British military: 27 dead.
Iraqi forces: The number of military casualties is unavailable, but the International Committee of the Red Cross reports that hundreds of wounded Iraqis are in Baghdad hospitals and dozens have died in fighting around the capital.
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ELSEWHERE
In London, the ITV network reported that the "YouGov poll" showed that 55 percent of Britons support the British role in the war.
In Beirut, five people were hurt in the bombing of a McDonald's restaurant, the latest sign of rising anti-American sentiment in the Arab world.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin conferred by phone with President Bush after his parliament urged progress on a treaty with the United States on cutting nuclear arsenals.
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IN WASHINGTON
The Pentagon said that the eight dead soldiers found during the rescue of POW Jessica Lynch were members of her unit, ambushed during a convoy. Among the dead was Lynch's former roommate, Army Pfc. Lori Piestewa, a Hopi Indian from Tuba City, Ariz., the first U.S. woman killed in combat in the war.
In his weekly radio address, President Bush said: "Free nations will not sit and wait, leaving enemies free to plot another September the 11th—this time, perhaps, with chemical, biological, or nuclear terror By defending our own security, we are ridding the people of Iraq from one of the cruelest regimes on earth With each new village they liberate, our forces are learning more about the atrocities of that regime, and the deep fear the dictator has instilled in the Iraqi people."
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WEATHER IN BAGHDAD
Sunday
Cloudy
High temperature: 90
Low temperature: 66
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QUOTES
"The people of Iraq have my pledge: Our fighting forces will press on until their oppressors are gone and their whole country is free."
_ President Bush in his weekly radio address.
"The criminals will be humiliated. To hurt the enemy more, raise the level of your attacks."
_ Statement to the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein released by the Information Ministry.
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(c) 2003, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
Iraq
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