The battle for Baghdad appeared to be under way today as US troops reportedly took control of Saddam International airport, a key target just 10 miles from the city centre. US forces launched their attack on Saddam International Airport, 16 kilometres (10 miles) southwest of the city centre last night, and by Friday morning, the 3rd Infantry Division occupied part of the airport and had sealed the entrance closest to Baghdad.
A US commander with the 3rd Infantry Division said that US troops have taken "complete control" of the airport and that 320 Iraqi soldiers were killed in the battle. However, other reports suggest that US troops gained partial control of the airport complex overnight, and are still fighting to flush out pockets of resistance.
Meanwhile US central command has said that the Iraqi Air Force headquarters in the city centre were hit with satellite-guided bombs at about 9.45am (6.45am BST).
It remains unclear how many Iraqi troops remain at the airport. Forty Iraqi soldiers were killed and five tanks and several armed pickup trucks destroyed in a firefight that began just after 8am (5am BST) after Iraqi troops counterattacked, the Reuters news agency has reported.
Meanwhile, civilians in Baghdad were being ordered by Iraqi authorities to drive to the airport to defend it, according to CNN.
Troops from the 3rd Infantry Division fought four hours of running skirmishes with Iraqi fighters before their assault on the airport.
US military sources said there was little resistance, but dozens of Iraqi troops and civilians died in an apparent barrage of US artillery and rocket fire attacks in the nearby village of Furat. Iraqi officials put the total death toll in and around the village at 83, but this could not be independently confirmed. Iraq said it had captured five US tanks and one helicopter.
At least one US soldier was killed by friendly fire in the fighting. Three were wounded by Iraqi fire, and three soldiers collapsed from heat exhaustion as temperatures rose to about 32C.
(Picture Ananova)
