Brigadier General John Kelly, assistant commander of the First Marine Division, said troops crossed the Diyala River despite Iraqi moves to blow up two bridges over the waterway that runs down the eastern side of Baghdad.

"We're in Baghdad and we're in Baghdad to stay," Kelly said. He did not say how many Marines had entered the capital or how far they had penetrated.

But AFP reporters saw two US armored vehicles and 10 marines in full combat gear at Saddam's main presidential palace in the city centre.

"The marines will continue with the liberation of Baghdad over some days," Kelly told AFP as the troops moved on the capital from the southeast.

The marines marched toward Baghdad from east of the Tigris River, pushing to join up with US army units that had fought their way northward along the western edge of the capital.

Kelly said Iraqi forces had blown up two bridges over the Diyala in an apparent bid to try to slow the US invasion. But he said one bridge was quickly repaired and pontoons put in place.

"It hasn't delayed us in the least. We just had to bring up the engineering assets," Kelly said.

Lieutenant Colonel Pete Owen, executive officer for the Marines First Regimental Combat Team, said there had been heavy fighting as marines crossed the river, but there had been no reports of US casualties.

SPACE.WIRE