Shops remained shut in downtown Baghdad, notably on Saadun Avenue. The price of gasoline shot from five cents to one US dollar a liter before gas stations also stopped serving motorists.

Some pharmacies were open on Rashid Street, but most premises kept their shutters down. Armed shopowners stood guard outside.

"It's as if we were in a big ship in stormy seas. We'll be sinking soon," said shopowner Salah Jamir.

Baghdad slipped into anarchy after government forces vanished and US troops marched into the Iraqi capital Wednesday, with mobs looting and, sometimes even burning, state buildings, hotels, shops and hospitals.

The US State Department said Friday the United States would send nearly 1,200 police consultants, advisors and judicial experts to Iraq in the coming weeks to help establish security.

For the moment, US troops are stationed in key buildings but there are very few of them on the streets of the capital.

Vigilantes have sprung up in the city and access to some neighborhoods was blocked Saturday. Looters were still at work at the planning ministry, already ravaged by fire.

"We will turn against the Americans if they do nothing" to end the chaos, warned shopowner Hassan Farhid.

Hundreds of Iraqis, including police officers, Saturday answered an urgent US appeal to help restore order and services to the capital.

SPACE.WIRE