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The US army's elite 101st Airborne Division stepped up its campaign around the city of Najaf, 150 kilometers (95 miles) from Baghdad, flying in Apache and Kiowa attack helicopters to support infantry troops, officers said.
US commanders have said their troops were within 100 kilometers (60 miles) of the capital in their drive to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Some have signaled a major tank battle could be shaping up in the next week.
The US army's 20,000-strong 3rd Infantry Division, supported by the 101st Airborne, was south of Baghdad and geared for an attack. Two formations of US marines were to its east.
Officers said mixed and matched elements of five Republican Guard divisions, elite troops backed by heavy armor, manned a southern arc in front of Baghdad, bracing for a decisive drive in the nearly two-week-old campaign.
There was no immediate estimate how many troops this would represent but it could run into the tens of thousands. Iraqi divisions normally comprise 12,000-15,000 troops.
Major John Altman, intelligence officer for the 3rd Infantry Division's First Brigade, said the Iraqis were reinforcing the Republican Guard after days of punishing air strikes and probing ground attacks by US-led forces.
"What's happening is that you reinforce the unit you expect to be in contact and you fill a unit that is attrited," Altman told AFP near Najaf, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) south of Baghdad.
He said the Republican Guard's armored Medina Division had been heavily battered by days of air strikes, artillery attacks and assaults by the tank-busting Apaches.
The Iraqis brought down from north of Baghdad elements of the armored Hammurabi and mechanized Nebuchadnazzar divisions, Altman said. Troops of the Al-Nida armored and Adnan divisions were also in place south of the capital.
"Elements of five Republican Guard divisions are oriented along the southeast and southwest of Baghdad," Altman said.
The intelligence officer said that fighting had been heavy around a key bridge that crosses the Euphrates River southwest of the Shiite Muslim city of Karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Baghdad.
"We made great headway," Altman said. "We can easily own the ground there and use the bridge."
Colonel Greg Gass, the 101st's aviation brigade commander, described the fighting Monday as the heaviest his forces had been involved in since the start of the war on March 20.
"They fought pretty hard from first light (into the afternoon)," Gass said of the Iraqis, adding eight Apaches sustained hits "from just a hole in the rotor to significant tail damage."
US officials also said the Army 3rd Infantry Division attacked Iraqi positions Monday in quarries below Karbala, which like Najaf is a Shiite holy city.
They said elements of the 3rd Infantry Division also hit out northward at what they called pockets of Iraqi resistance in the area.
Two air defense artillery systems, two armored personnel carriers, one artillery piece and nine technical vehicles were destroyed, they said. Several Iraqis were killed and about 30 taken prisoner.
US-British forces kept up their bombardment of Baghdad Tuesday, hitting the main presidential palace complex for the second consecutive day.
Iraqi officials said 18 people had been killed and more than 100 wounded in British and US air strikes on the capital since Monday evening.
But the Americans also took another public relations hit Tuesday when troops fearful of a fresh suicide attack opened fire on a civilian vehicle at a military checkpoint at Najaf, killing seven women and children.
The incident occurred three days after a suicide bombing killed four US soldiers and left other troops jittery.
Officials said the victims Tuesday were in a vehicle that failed to stop despite warning shots fired by US troops. Four people in the minibus escaped unharmed.
US marines were busy securing supply routes and mopping up areas of southern Iraq. Officials said they seized Sunday a huge ammunition supply depot with rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and other weapons.
British forces in southern Iraq swapped their helmets for berets as markets and schools reopened, but the battle for the key regional port of Basra still lie ahead.
The British units besieging Basra said they were waiting for more manpower before trying to take the southern metropolis.
They kept up their siege after taking the neighboring town of Abu al-Khasib, 20 kilometers (12 miles) to the southeast, and rattling the western suburbs of Basra with artillery Monday.
SPACE.WIRE |