US says now holds Baghdad airport "secure"

AS SALIYAH, Qatar (AFP) Apr 05, 2003
Coalition forces have secured control of Baghdad airport, US Central Command said Saturday after Iraq insisted it had driven US troops away from the site on the outskirts of the city.

Spokesman Major General Victor Renuart told reporters here coalition forces now hold the airport "secure".

He made his comments after Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf had said Saddam Hussein's crack Republican Guard had driven coalition forces out of the Baghdad airport they seized a day before.

"The Republican Guard is in full control of Saddam International Airport," Sahhaf said. "We have defeated them, in fact we have crushed them. We have pushed them outside the whole area of the airport."

But, speaking from inside the airport compound, a spokesman for an US infantry unit involved in the coalition's drive into central Baghdad had scorned Sahhaf's claim.

"The only Republican Guard soldiers I've seen are either dead or captured," said Captain Andrew Valles, spokesman for the 1st Brigade of the US army's 3rd Infantry Division.

SPACE.WIRE