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<p>April 2, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - The most important battle of the Iraq war got under way last night when U.S. Army troops launched a massive attack on Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard force defending approaches to Baghdad.</p> <p>Pentagon officials confirmed last night that the Army's V Corps was engaging the Medina Division of the Republican Guard in a major battle near the strategic town of Karbala in what could be a turning point in the war.</p>

U.S. forces secure Kerbala, move north By Luke Baker NEAR KERBALA, Iraq, April 2 (Reuters) - U.S. forces have encircled the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Kerbala, securing all major exit routes in the face of only light Iraqi opposition, and are now advancing further north. Commanders of the U.S. 3rd Infantry had expected a day-long battle to seize the perimeter of the city, just 110 km (70 miles) southwest of Baghdad. But in the end the operation was completed within three hours. Rather than tackle Iraqi fighters who might be positioned further inside Kerbala U.S. forces were instead continuing...

U.S. Troops Encircle Karbala , Move On

Rockets lit up a calm, starlit sky early Wednesday, beginning a what was expected to be major battle for the Karbala Gap. This battle was said to determine the fate of the war in Iraq. Troops felt very little resistance as they moved northeast of Karbala, about 50 miles southwest of Baghdad. The 3rd Infantry Division moved 20 miles past its stopping point and has encountered no enemy troops and no dead bodies in the bombed emplacements where the Republican Guard was believed to be. In Baghdad, huge explosions echoed across the city early Wednesday, and a plume of...

AS SAYLIYA CAMP, Qatar (Reuters) - A U.S. military official said on Wednesday U.S. forces were engaged in major fighting with Iraq's Republican Guard near Kerbala, the last big city before Baghdad for U.S. troops advancing from the south. "This is the big battle," the U.S. military official at Central Command forward headquarters told Reuters. Asked if the fighting represented a much anticipated new push toward the Iraqi capital, the official said: "It well could be." Kerbala is 68 miles southwest of Baghdad and lies to the west of the Euphrates river. U.S. troops are also pushing north on...

American forces attacked a Republican Guard division tonight at Karbala, on the Euphrates River approach to Baghdad, in what officials said was the beginning of a drive to push through the outer defenses of the Iraqi capital, 50 miles to the north. Officials also said that several thousand marines positioned south of Baghdad were veering east and pushing toward the Tigris River to confront a Republican Guard division reported to be massing southeast of the capital. ``This is the big battle,'' a senior American military officer told reporters at the forward headquarters of the United States Central Command, in Qatar....