Bush was to leave Washington at dawn Monday to meet his main Iraq war ally British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Northern Ireland.

Rice met early Monday in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, one day after five Russian diplomats were wounded when a convoy evacuating them from Baghdad came under fire, possibly from US troops, Interfax reported.

Talks between Ivanov and Rice, who was accompanied by US ambassador to Moscow Alexander Vershbow, were to focus on US-Russian relations, Interfax added.

Rice was also to hold talks with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and Russian security council chief Vladimir Rushailo.

A US official in Washington, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said Sunday that Rice would also discuss the shooting incident with Russian President Vladimir Putin before travelling on to meet up with Bush in Northern Ireland on Monday or Tuesday.

The US-British summit will be the third in three weeks for Bush and Blair, who embarked on the Iraq war without the United Nations' explicit approval and in defiance of opposition from France, Russia and Germany.

But Bush and Blair differ over postwar Iraq, with Blair calling for the United Nations to have a central role.

The prime minister has said Britain would seek fresh UN Security Council resolutions to guarantee Iraq's territorial integrity, ensure humanitarian aid quickly reached civilians and approve a post-war administration.

Conscious of international opposition to the Iraq war, Blair has also pushed the US leader recently to make a greater commitment to the Middle East peace process.

France, Germany and Russia have also demanded that the United Nations to be responsible for running Iraq when the fighting finishes, but Rice has swept aside such calls.

"Having given life and blood to liberate Iraq," it was natural that the United States and Britain should take the lead in the country when the war is finished, she said Friday.

The United States plans to let a military administration under its main war commander, General Tommy Franks, run Iraq until an interim Iraqi administration can take over. But there have been divisions in Washington over the plans.

US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Sunday the US military may have to run Iraq for more than six months after the war has finished before it hands over to an Iraqi authority.

Bush and Blair will hold a working dinner in Belfast Monday, and a press conference at 1045 GMT Tuesday, before taking part in a trilateral meeting on Northern Ireland with Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, the White House said.

The UN Security Council was also due to meet Monday at 1500 GMT to discuss Iraq.

In Baghdad, huge explosions were heard and thick smoke covered the sky over Saddam Hussein's main presidential palace as US forces launched a lighting raid on the sprawling compound in the heart of the city.

Lieutenant Colonel Peter Bayer, operations officer for the US army's 3rd Infantry Division, said US troops had "secured the main presidential palace" and another palace in the city center as well as a third near the airport.

The Pentagon, denied however that the much-vaunted battle for Baghdad had begun.

"This does not represent the battle for Baghdad. What this is is a powerful message that we can go where we want, when we want," spokesman Major Ben Owens said.

Heavy fighting between US troops and Iraqi forces was also reported on the western outskirts of the city.

The US military has also begun flying Iraqi opposition fighters to join in the war, a top general said.

"These are Iraqi citizens who want to fight for a free Iraq, who will become basically the core of the new Iraqi army once Iraq is free," said General Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told ABC television Sunday.

"To speak specifically about where they are or what they're about to do would be inappropriate, but they are the beginning of the free Iraqi army."

The fighters were flown from northern Iraq to southern Iraq.

SPACE.WIRE