"That corner is militarily significant," Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said at the Command base, as controlling the field would prevent any members of Saddam Hussein's regime from fleeing.

US forces already control the Iraqi capital's main Saddam International Airport, outside the city to the southwest, which they have renamed Baghdad International Airport.

Brooks said there was Iraqi "resistance" in the area around the airport and that US troops were continuing to try to increase "security" at the site.

SPACE.WIRE