"There are no reports of (troops) inside the buildings," US Navy Captain Frank Thorp told AFP at US Central Command's forward planning base.

"We are at the facility on the tarmac."

"We have troops on the ground at the airport ... There's a lot of open area and what you see now is that we have troops in that open area."

Thorp said US forces encountered "light resistance" from Iraqi units operating in "pick-up-like trucks" at the airport overnight.

He also confirmed reports of ground fighting around the airport early Friday.

"We sure do expect more fighting at the airport," he said.

But Thorp added that US forces were in no hurry to capture the airport, located just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the center of Baghdad.

"This is not a race. It's a deliberate movement, a very controlled movement"

US commanders earlier told an AFP correspondent on the scene that their troops had seized around 80 percent of the sprawling civilian and military airport complex, including the VIP terminal, under Iraqi artillery fire.

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