Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told reporters at US military planning headquarters that Monday's thrust by US troops into the heart of Baghdad "reinforces the reality that the regime is not in control of all" of the capital.

But Brooks warned that though President Saddam Hussein's "structure of control ... has been significantly degraded, that doesn't mean there's an elimination completely of all threats. So we continue with our efforts to find them, remove them."

US forces earlier Monday stormed into Baghdad, entering two of Saddam's palaces, including the main riverside complex that has come to symbolize his 24-year iron grip on power in Iraq.

In London, British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said US forces have seized control of the main routes into and out of Baghdad. "The Iraqi people will soon be rid of Saddam Hussein," he said.

But US commanders insisted the assault was only a "raid through the city" and not the beginning of an all-out battle for control of Baghdad, one of the last prizes in the US-led coalition's war to topple Saddam and his inner circle.

Brooks acknowledged "there are places of resistance in and around Baghdad" and said "there are some parts of the city" that are not in the hands of US forces.

But he stressed that the raids on the palaces, while not leading to the capture of prominent Saddam loyalists, were still militarily significant.

"While some of these attacks that you saw today did not turn up individuals, they may well turn up information," he said.

More importantly, he added, "they certainly show that the regime does not control these areas."

Brooks would not be drawn when asked if US forces intended to maintain positions they have reached thus far, saying that was a tactical decision for commanders on the ground.

But his comments suggested that for the next few days US troops would continue seizing opportunities to conduct incursions to convince the leadership and the population of their capacity to set the terms of engagement.

Such thrusts, he said, "reinforce the reality that we will continue to conduct operations at a time and place of our choosing and that the regime doesn't have the means of preventing that."

He said field commanders would be looking for chances "to put the regime at greater risk, take away its ability to control and remove the mechanism by which the regime either oppresses people or conducts military operations."

"So that's what we think we'll see over the coming days."

Explaining the scope of the latest figting, he told reporters that marines from the First Expeditionary Force are "isolating Baghdad from the east along the Diyala River and with the (US Army's) Fifth Corps operating in the west, the northwest and into the town of Baghdad, the city of Baghdad.

"To the northwest, the attacks prevented reinforcements of Iraqi forces north of the city and resulted in the destruction of an Iraqi unit composed of tanks, armoured personnel carriers, other armoured vehicles, artillery systems and infantry."

Elsewhere in his remarks, Brooks highlighted the work of secretive US "special operations" forces, who he said were waging "unconventional" warfare in northern, southern and central Iraq.

He did not explain in detail what he meant by unconventional warfare but said it did involve forging contacts with Iraqis prepared to act against Saddam Huusein.

"They represent the mechanism that makes it possible for Iraqis to join in the fight against the regime," he said.

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