Saddam's stupid "victory" arch!!! (visible lower right)
Posted on 04/02/2003 6:29:19 PM PST by JohnHuang2
U.S. planes pound Baghdad, loud blasts
By Hassan Hafidh
BAGHDAD, April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. planes pounded targets in the centre and outskirts of Baghdad early on Thursday, triggering relentless explosions with American troops just 30 km (19 miles) south of the Iraqi capital.
U.S. war headquarters in Qatar said planes dropped almost 40 "smart bombs" overnight on just one military storage facility in the Karkh district of Baghdad.
This correspondent heard a huge explosion in the city centre which shook buildings at about 2 a.m. (2300 GMT Wednesday).
The explosion was followed by several loud blasts on the outskirts of the city, including in the south where Iraqi forces were preparing for the possibility of an assault by U.S. troops.
"It was one of the worst nights of bombing so far in Baghdad and the outskirts. There was the sound of warplanes all night," said Reuters correspondent Nadim Ladki.
"They bombing went on all through the night, every 10 to 20 minutes," he said. The war, which started on March 20, enters its third week on Thursday.
Planes roared repeatedly over the city of five million.
It was not clear exactly where the blasts were. In the centre, palaces belonging to President Saddam Hussein and Iraqi government buildings have been battered by the war.
The Pentagon said U.S. troops were 30 miles (50 km) from Baghdad but a military source told a Reuters correspondent travelling with the 3rd Infantry that vanguard units were just 19 miles from the southern outskirts.
RAPID ADVANCE
On Wednesday, U.S. forces smashed through elite Iraqi divisions to close in on Baghdad, using fearsome air power to back the swiftest advance of the war.
The U.S. Central Command said it dropped almost 40 so-called Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMS) -- "smart bombs" that home in on their targets by satellite navigation -- on the Karkh storage facility on Wednesday night.
"The regime, special security organisation and possible the special Republican Guard use the facility," it said in a statement. "These groups store critical military and security supplies for the regime in this building."
Central Command also said that it also used the JDAMs on a farm used as a command and control facility at Radwaniyah, southwest of Baghdad, on Wednesday.
The defenders of Baghdad have been preparing for urban warfare. Pick-up trucks equipped with machineguns and anti-aircraft guns are dotted across the city.
U.S. forces would like to avoid street fighting in Baghdad, which might take a heavy toll in military and civilian casualties. But planners believe this prospect is increasingly likely as Saddam prepares to stage his last stand in the city.
Right.
Saddam's stupid "victory" arch!!! (visible lower right)
Ya think?
I acutally heard a CBS radio talker call a part of the 3rd ID an "elite" unit. 'bout coughed up my lungs in surprise. May have been an embed and it slipped through into the broadcast.
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