After three weeks of war, US troops faced only sporadic gunfire as they moved up both banks of the Tigris river that divides the city to the applause of hundreds of civilians, some of them chanting, "Good, Good, Bush!", while others indulged in widespread looting.

Tanks had rumbled by late afternoon into the central Al-Fardus (Paradise) Square, where dozens of Iraqis quickly set about the massive bronze statue of the Iraqi president, a symbol of his 24-year iron-fisted rule.

After blows with a sledgehammer only knocked flakes off the marble plinth, and a rope passed round the figure's neck was clearly inadequate, it took the marines and a tank recovery vehicle with a crane to secure a chain round the statue and back up to pull it over.

Saddam, his right hand in a gesture of waving farewell, hung on in horizontal position for a few seconds until another tug finally brought him to the ground.

Dozens of Iraqis jumped on the fallen figure shouting with joy and venting their anger by breaking it into pieces. The head was later seen being dragged along the road by a crowd of cheering men.

One marine -- some of whose colleagues were criticised for hoisting the Stars and Stripes in Umm Qasr, early in the war -- had put a US flag over Saddam's face as the cable was fastened on the statue.

But he soon replaced it with an Iraqi flag as a scarf before that too was taken away.

As they arrived in the square, the US troops kept the hatches of their tanks open and were relaxed and smiling, though other marines on foot took up precautionary positions on the pavement.

Some Iraqi children plucked flowers to give to the soldiers, who posed for photographs.

"I never expected to see myself in Baghdad and I never expected such a warm welcome," said Sergeant Grant Zaidz.

"We did not face any resistance whatsoever today. We just strolled in," said the 20-year-old from the western US state of Oregon.

In the lobby of the Palestine Hotel, where foreign journalists have been based since the start of the war, Corporal Matt Hanson and Private First Class Dustin Laderdorf were served thick Arabic coffee by an Iraqi waiter.

"It feels good, we've finally hit the end of the road. Today there were only a few shots at us from snipers but nothing major," said Hanson, 21, from Minnesota.

Crowds had greeted the US column of seven vehicles carrying marines through the Hababiyah district about three kilometres (two miles) from the heart of the capital, and tore up a giant portrait of President Saddam Hussein.

To chants of "Good America" and a sea of hands flashing the "V" for victory sign, one resident marched up to the heavily armed troops with a symbolic peace offering in his hand.

"I couldn't find flowers so I brought you a palm leaf," explained the man wearing a traditional Arab galabiyah gown.

US forces had also rolled early Wednesday through eastern Baghdad where people, mostly Shiite Muslims, were full of broad smiles.

One man intoned the name of "Saddam" and ran his finger across his throat in a mock gesture of execution. But two others appeared to support the embattled Iraqi president: "Saddam Hussein good," one said.

With all organs of the state crumbling, including the police force, Baghdad also saw scenes of chaos, with mobs looting whatever they could lay their hands on.

In Saddam City, a teeming Shiite suburb northeast of the capital, residents broke into shops and homes to loot furniture, food, electrical equipment and carpets.

The suburb's heavily armed population of well over a million had chased out the Fedayeen Saddam militiamen before the arrival of the US troops during the night.

In the north of the capital, citizens rampaged through the interior and irrigation ministries, gutting the offices, reporters said.

The headquarters of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, run by Saddam's elder son, Uday, was also pillaged.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf, who gave daily briefings denying any advance by US-led forces, and other officials were nowhere to be seen.

About the only sign of the regime were its official newspapers, although one staff member told AFP that Wednesday was the last day they would publish.

"Under our fighting leader Saddam Hussein, this ordeal will be over," read a headline in Ath-Thawra, the organ of Saddam's Baath Party, which has been in power since 1968.

Nothing has been heard from Saddam since a US B1 bomber flattened a building he was believed to have entered in the Al-Mansur district on Monday.

"He's not been around. He's not active. Therefore, he's dead, or he's incapacitated or he's healthy and he's cowering in some tunnel someplace trying to avoid being caught," US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in Washington.

However, in London, newspapers quoted intelligence sources as saying the Iraqi president had likely left just before, maintaining his reputation for secrecy and survival built up over decades.

Despite the advance by US troops, a series of massive explosions lit up the sky Wednesday evening on Baghdad's southwestern rim, location of the international airport seized by US forces last week.

In central Baghdad, a Belgian doctor, Geert Van Moorter, said two Iraqis were killed and three others wounded when US forces opened fire on an ambulance carrying away people injured in exchanges of fire.

An AFP reporter also saw a convoy of marines come under fire after the lead vehicle was rammed by an Iraqi car on Baghdad's eastern outskirts.

"We control the vast majority of the city but there's still fighting going on," Lieutenant General Buford Blount, commander of the Third Infantry Division, told journalists at the airport.

"We have defeated his (Saddam's) military," Blount said. "We have taken out his command and control."

There was also concern about the humanitarian situation after the International Committee of the Red Cross suspended aid deliveries in Baghdad, following the death of a Canadian staff member in crossfire Tuesday.

But Rumsfeld dismissed talk of a humanitarian crisis and said aircraft delivering aid supplies have already landed at Baghdad airport.

SPACE.WIRE