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Key developments in the war:

U.S.-led troops fought pitched battles with the Republican Guard within 50 miles of the capital Monday. Coalition warplanes pounded the city and dozens of other Iraqi positions in advance of the battle for Baghdad.

Huge explosions rocked central Baghdad late Monday. Earlier, an armada of B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers struck communication and command centers in the capital, the first such simultaneous attacks on the same location. Tomahawk cruise missiles hit the Information Ministry.

Iraq's foreign minister, Naji Sabri, said Iraqi forces would defeat American and British forces, and only surrender would save coalition troops from the "holocaust." More than 5,000 Arabs have come to Iraq to help attack the invaders, he said.

Iraqi television aired footage of Saddam Hussein with sons Odai and Qusai at a meeting of top military commanders. There was no way of determining when the video was shot.

The Pentagon said U.S. and British air strikes have caused "a very significant weakening" of Iraqi forces, and Iraqi commanders are moving Republican Guard troops around to shore up their strength.

U.S. Army troops fought their way into Hindiyah and battled Iraqi forces over a bridge across the Euphrates. At least 35 Iraqis were killed and several dozen others captured.

U.S. troops killed seven Iraqi women and children at a checkpoint when the Iraqis' van would not stop as ordered, a military official said. The dead were among 13 women and children in a van that approached the checkpoint but did not stop, the official said. The military is investigating.

The 82nd Airborne Division killed about 100 "regime terror squad members" and captured about 50 prisoners at the Shiite holy city of Najaf and another town, according to U.S. Central Command.

In northern Iraq, U.S. aircraft pounded Iraqi positions near Kalak, aiding Kurdish fighters as they seized territory from Saddam Hussein's fleeing troops.

British commandos destroyed Iraqi tanks and seized equipment in a suburb of Basra. A Royal Marine was killed and the Iraqis suffered a "large number of casualties," the British said.

Secretary of State Colin Powell will travel to Turkey and to Brussels, Belgium, Tuesday for talks on the war with Iraq and postwar reconstruction of the country.

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt warned that a drawn-out war in Iraq will lead to an increase in Islamic militancy throughout the world.

NBC fired journalist Peter Arnett after he gave an interview to state-run Iraqi TV saying the U.S.-led coalition's first war plan had failed because of Iraq's resistance.

The first U.N. humanitarian aid, a few truckloads of food and water, trickled across Iraq's borders from Turkey and Kuwait, U.N. agencies reported Monday.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson told families of two missing Newsday journalists last seen in Baghdad that he would try to help figure out their whereabouts.

photo credit and caption:

Iraqis participating in the video taping of a patriotic program for Iraqi state television cheer in downtown Baghdad on Monday, March 31, 2003. (AP Photo/Ali Heider)

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.