As residents moved away from frontline outskirts sporadically shaken by blasts, coalition warplanes swooped over Baghdad with troops converging from opposite directions in hopes of completely encircling the capital by later Sunday.

The aircrafts flew over the capital at high altitude several times at 15-minute intervals, as artillery blasts could be clearly heard in the city center coming from Baghdad's southern rim.

US fighter aircraft began Saturday flying 24 hours a day over Baghdad to protect ground troops fighting their way into the capital on the 18th day of the war to oust the Saddam regime.

The city appeared relatively normal Sunday, with traffic moving slowly and public transportation running as usual. Most shops were still closed, but many men were out on the sidewalk cafes sipping traditional dark tea.

Armed paramilitary troops and policemen were heavily deployed in all Baghdad neighborhoods, with more trenches being dug along main roadways.

On the al-Kharkh western bank of the Tigris river, which cuts Baghdad in two, activity seemed more reduced than on the al-Rusafa bank.

Al-Kharkh is home to the US-controlled airport, a number of Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces and key ministries that have been the main targets of coalition missile strikes.

Most of the capital's five million residents have tried to stay with relatives in the city center, perceived as less vulnerable to attack, or moved out to the countryside, mostly to the north of Baghdad.

Residents were seen leaving homes on the outskirts, especially in the south from where US troops rode tanks deep into the capital on Saturday.

The incursion, which reportedly killed 1,000 Iraqi troops, was meant as a "poke in the eye" to Saddam and to show him that US troops could come and go as they pleased, according to US officials.

Iraqi authorities Sunday showed journalists a US tank they said had been destroyed during the three-hour incursion, the first since war erupted March

Cars were again passing on the main avenue of the incursion, where a few vehicles on the side of the road were still charred from the battle the day before.

Most of the dozens of Iraqi army trucks, armoured carriers and military jeeps that were destroyed in the fighting had been removed.

Saddam's aides, ministers and media have been rebutting US claims of seizing control over the airport and southern cities, vowing Iraqi forces were moving closer to "victory."

"Saddam International Airport turns into graveyard for the invaders," read the red-ink frontpage headline of Ath-Thawra, mouthpiece of the ruling Baath party, which also reported the downing of a US Cobra helicopter in a clash there.

A cartoon in the paper showed US President George W. Bush shooting with an assault-rifle while sitting in a coffin.

Saddam, who was shown on Saturday chairing a meeting of top aides including his sons Uday and Qusay, has recently frequently appeared on television and on Friday, he was seen on a busy Baghdad street to show he is still in control.

And in a speech read on television on his behalf Saturday by Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf, Saddam told Iraqis the battered capital was still theirs to save.

"The enemy has concentrated all its forces against Baghdad, which has weakened its power in other parts of Iraq," said the address.

"You must now weaken them (further), deepen their wounds and deprive them of what they have taken of your land, even though it is negligible, in order to reduce their chances and accelerate their defeat."

The Iraqi capital had come under renewed coalition bombardment just before dawn Sunday.

Beginning around 5:00 am (0100 GMT), explosions and artillery fire could be heard coming from the south as well as occasional blasts in the city center.

At least two massive explosions were heard in central Baghdad just after midnight (2000 GMT Saturday), but their exact targets were unclear. Explosions were still heard half an hour later.

On Saturday night, a missile struck the Tigris river next to Saddam Hussein's main presidential palace about the same time a plane roared overhead. Smoke rose briefly from the water.

The sprawling Republican Palace on the banks of the Tigris has been repeatedly hit by bombs or missiles since the outbreak of the war.

SPACE.WIRE