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American forces, which crossed the Tigris River in the drive toward the Iraqi capital, destroyed the Baghdad Division of Iraq's Republican Guard, the U.S. Central Command said Wednesday.

The U.S. forces seized the strategic town of Kut and routed the Republican Guard division force that had been guarding the highway leading to Baghdad.

"The Baghdad Division has been destroyed," said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks.

He said that two other Republican Guard divisions had been engaged around the city of Karbala and that coalition forces had seized control of a dam on Lake al-Milh. Some analysts had feared the Iraqis would try to destroy the dam and trap U.S. forces with the resulting flood.

photo credit and caption:

Two CH-46's Sea Knights and a UH-60 Blackhawk land on a road near the airstrip at Jalibah, southern Iraq, to take on additional fuel before continuing their mission northward, in this March 25, photo made available Wednesday April 2, 2003 . (AP Photo/Sgt. Giles M. Isham/U.S. Marine Corps, HO)

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