In what the U.S. military called a "show of force" aimed at
proving their ability to move at will through strategic parts of the
city, troops entered a luxury palace used by Saddam, blew up a huge
statue of the Iraqi leader and surrounded the Information Ministry
and al Rashid hotel on the western banks of the Tigris River.
The raid came as a British military official told The Associated
Press that Ali Hassan al-Majid, who is known as "Chemical Ali" and
is one of the most brutal members of Saddam's inner circle, was
killed in his house in the southern city of Basra.
Maj. Andrew Jackson of the British 3rd Battalion Parachute
Regiment said Majid Saddam's cousin and the man widely held
responsible for a 1988 poison gas attack on the Kurds in northern
Iraq was killed by a coalition airstrike.
Reporting from the eastern banks of the Tigris, ABCNEWS' Richard
Engel said the U.S. raid into central Baghdad was met with scattered
Iraqi resistance and residents in the city could hear machine gun
fire, explosions and automatic rifle fire.
"The conflict has started coming right close into Baghdad," said
Engel. "It certainly seems to be spiraling in toward the city."
Explosions could still be heard around the city, especially on
the western front, said Engel.
In the midst of the raid, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed
Saeed al-Sahaf held a news conference in Baghdad, where he denied
that U.S. tanks and troops had entered into the heart of the city.
"The infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates
of Baghdad," he said. "God has given victory to the soldiers and
Iraq."
While recent U.S. raids into downtown Baghdad have been dubbed
"thunder run" missions, U.S. military officials today said there was
no broad policy on U.S. troops withdrawing or retaining their
positions in downtown Baghdad.
At a U.S. Central Command news briefing in Doha, Qatar, Brig.
Gen. Vincent Brooks said U.S. commanders on the field would make
"tactical decisions" on "what parts of Baghdad they wish to retain
control of."
But the military gains were accompanied by losses on both sides.
According to U.S. military sources, six U.S. soldiers
were killed and six others wounded when a U.S. Army tactical
operations center was hit by an artillery shell on southern fringes
of Baghdad.
And in a friendly fire incident along the eastern route into
Baghdad, two U.S. Marines were killed and two others wounded during
a battle to gain control of two bridges, according to Reuters.
On the Iraqi side, the number of civilian casualties in Baghdad
were so high that overwhelmed local hospitals stopped keeping count,
the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement.
Looting in Basra
Outside Baghdad, coalition troops were gradually seeking to
establish control in parts of northern and southern Iraq.
U.S.ground forces stormed into downtown Baghdad
as coalition troops secure towns and cities across Iraq.
(Updated 9:30 pm, April 6 ABCNEWS.com)
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In the southern city of Basra, British ground troops, accompanied
by air support, stormed into the heart of the city toward a densely
populated neighborhood in the old section of the city, where pockets
of resistance still exist in the narrow lanes and by-lanes.
But there were widespread incidents of looting in areas of the
city that had fallen into coalition control.
Reporting from Basra, ABCNEWS' John Donvan said residents of
Iraq's second city were stripping a prison and a university campus,
despite calls from local clerics to desist from looting.
"At the university, people were coming out with computers,
posters, rugs, papers," said Donvan. "When we asked them why, their
answer was, 'because we have nothing.'"
British troops meanwhile were continuing to move into Basra, said
Donvan, focusing on securing the city.
British military officials said they believe a body found in at
the residence of "Chemical Ali" following a coalition airstrike on
Saturday was that of Saddam's notorious cousin.
Al-Majid is widely held responsible for the deaths of thousands
of Kurds in northern Iraq under Operation Anfal in 1998.
But U.S. military officials said they could not confirm the
report. "We have no confirmed report on the condition of the man
referred to as Chemical Ali," said Brooks.
Report: Missiles Equipped With Chemical
Weapons Found
South of Baghdad, U.S. news station National Public Radio
reported that U.S. troops had found a cache of around 20
medium-range missiles equipped with deadly sarin and mustard gases.
Quoting a "top official" with the 1st Marine Division, NPR said
the BM-21 missiles were equipped with the deadly gases and were
"ready to fire."
U.S. Central Command officials in Qatar have refused to comment
on the report, saying only that there had been no "extraordinary
finds" of chemical weapons in Iraq so far.
Iraq has maintained that it does not possess chemical or
biological weapons.
Over the weekend, U.S. soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division
had discovered two sites near the central city of Karbala with
suspicious materials, said ABCNEWS' Don Dahler, embedded with the
101st.
At one of the sites, believed to be a paramilitary training
facility, gas masks and antidotes for chemical weapons were
discovered in a room.
It was in one of those rooms that some of the soldiers became
nauseous and developed an apparent skin rash about 24 hours after
the discovery, said Dahler.
And at a nearby warehouse, troops also uncovered a dozen large
drums of what looked like chemicals, most labeled as pesticides.
Wires running into a bunker containing more drums indicated the
possibility of booby traps.
Airlifting Opposition Figures Into
Iraq
Meanwhile, an Iraqi National Congress official told The
Associated Press that Ahmad Chalabi, the leader of the London-based
Iraqi opposition group, had arrived in the southern Iraq city of
Nassiriyah at the head of about 700 opposition fighters.
Earlier today, U.S. officials confirmed that U.S. military planes
had airlifted the Iraqi exiles and dissidents into southern and
central Iraq in recent days.
An INC statement released on the weekend said the 700 opposition
fighters would serve under the commander of the invasion, U.S. Gen.
Tommy Franks, to help overthrow Saddam's regime.
"They will also take part in delivering humanitarian aid to the
Iraqi people and maintaining law, order and stability in areas
already liberated," the statement said.
At the news briefing in Qatar today, Brooks confirmed the
coalition cooperation with the INC and described the operations as
"ongoing."
"It should come as no surprise that the INC wants to see a
different Iraq," said Brooks. But he refused to confirm reports that
Chalabi had also been airlifted into southern Iraq.
ABCNEWS' Richard Engel in Baghdad, John Donvan in southern
Iraq, John McWethy at the Pentagon, and Don Dahler with the Army's
101st Airborne Division in Iraq contributed to this report.