Here is a rundown of the major fighting:

BAGHDAD: The main presidential palace complex was targeted by a missile or a "smart bomb" in the third straight day of strikes on the compound. The southern, western and northwestern outskirts came under new waves of bombing as US ground troops closed in for a decisive drive on the capital.

Four divisions of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard were attacked on several fronts. The three in the south battled US troops while the one to the north was hit from the air, US officials said.

KARBALA: US forces were on the "last push" to Baghdad, one officer said as the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division, backed by the 82nd Airborne Division, passed through the so-called Karbala gap, a strategically vital passageway southwest of Baghdad.

AL-KUT: US Marines crossed the Tigris river Wednesday and cut off the elite Baghdad division of the Republican Guard during a major battle southeast of the Iraqi capital, a senior officer said. He said Iraqi soldiers were "voting with their feet" and fleeing the US armour as it advanced near Al-Kut, around 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Baghdad.

BASRA: British troops kept up their siege of the southern port of Basra, shelling Iraqi positions in the city and manning checkpoints to stop the inflow of any weapons. But Iraq's defence minister, Hashim Ahmad, said Iraqi forces had killed 19 coalition soldiers and shot down three helicopters around Basra on Tuesday. The Iraqis fired three missiles overnight Wednesday but failed to hit anything, journalists said.

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