An AFP correspondent traveling with the troops said they were backed by artillery and two B-52 heavy bombers in their drive to take the canal near the town of Hilla, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad.

A hospital director said 33 civilians, including children, were killed and 310 wounded in air strikes against a residential area at the southern outskirts of the farming town.

Fifteen members of a family were also killed late Monday when their pickup was blown up by a rocket from an Apache helicopter near Hilla, the sole survivor of the attack told AFP Tuesday.

Major Cal Worth said the Iraqis put up a fight against the marines' advance. "There was good resistance initially," he said. "But again we finished them up. We continue to push on according to schedule."

Scores of tanks and armored personnel carriers were seen rumbling towards the canal near Hilla.

The marines are part of a general push towards the capital to topple the regime of President Saddam Hussein.

Further west, the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division and 101st Airborne Division are also gearing for a move against elite Republican Guard units defending the approaches to Baghdad.

SPACE.WIRE