By midday they had crossed the Khazer river by the Manquba bridge, a key point on the road to Mosul, and controlled three abandoned villages, their commander, Serbast Babili, told AFP.

"We will continue to advance, the capture of Mosul is a matter of days, not months," he said.

By the bridge three burned bodies lay under an exploded vehicle, while four other wrecked vehicles could be seen on a nearby hill pitted with foxholes and trenches.

Behind them were a 106mm recoilless artillery piece, three Sam-7 anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank rocket launchers and gas masks.

Peshmergas (Kurdish fighters) said the Iraqis had fallen back some five kilometres (three miles). After their retreat they shelled their abandoned positions, forcing the Kurds to fall back, along with some US special forces.

The Kurds said some 200-250 peshmergas were engaged against some 800 men of the Iraqi army's 5th Corps.

Forces loyal to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had attempted to stop the advance over the bridge with anti-tank rocket, mortar and gun fire but were subjected to heavy bombing from US warplanes.

Khazer and its bridge are strategic points in the advance on Mosul, to the west, a majority-Arab city of 1.5 million in a mostly Kurdish area some 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Baghdad.

The battle began on Thursday morning between Iraqi forces and the peshmerga, supported by US special forces, who directed airstrikes onto the Iraqi positions.

US warplanes began their blitz on Thursday morning, after which the intensity subsided until picking up again in the evening, by which time Kurdish forces were 500 metres (yards) from the bridge.

The aerial bombardment continued until midnight before beginning again at dawn Friday.

One of seven Iraqis who surrendered Thursday night said, "it was horrible, the planes were attacking us, it was clear we would all die, but the soldiers had to hold their positions because of punishment squads."

Around a dozen US vehicles with four or five soldiers aboard each, could be seen some two kilometres (1.5 miles) from the bridge.

SPACE.WIRE