Coalition forces occupied part of Baghdad's airport today and sealed the entrance closest to the capital.

Tanks of the US 3rd Infantry Division rumbled through the entrance of the sprawling Saddam International Airport, past a building-high portrait of the saluting Iraqi president, reported Foxnews.com

Sky News

reported that coalition troops had renamed it Baghdad International Airport.

Gunshots were heard from inside, and it was unclear how many Iraqi troops remained in the airport.

The London Guardian quoted a US commander with the 3rd Infantry Division as saying that US troops have taken "complete control" of the airport and that about 320 Iraqi soldiers were killed in the battle.

However, other reports suggest that US troops gained partial control of the airport complex overnight, and are still fighting to flush out pockets of resistance.

Dusk attack

Foxnews

said in an assault that began at dusk, two battalions of the division's 1st Brigade moved in from the north and south to sieze the main 13,000-foot runway, and combat patrols were moving through the area to search out Iraqi forces.

The airport -- which has numerous military and civilian buildings that must be scoured o­ne by o­ne -- is a key first objective for infantry and Marines converging o­n the capital from the south.

Securing it will allow coalition forces to bring in more troops, military equipment and humanitarian aid.

Earlier today, a Reuters news agency reported that at least seven explosions boomed out at dawn from the direction of the airport.

"Warplanes are screaming overhead. The whole ground is shuddering," said Reuters correspondent Samia Nakhoul, adding that Iraqi anti-aircraft fire were heard after the fifth explosion.

Nakhoul, reporting from central Baghdad, about 15 kilometers from the airport, said the explosions have set car alarms off in the city centre.

The report said that US-led forces deployed tanks, troops and warplanes overnight in an effort to wrest control of the airport in the first ground attack o­n the Iraqi capital since the start of the war to oust President Saddam Hussein, now into its 15th day.

PC by Iraqi minister

The International Herald Tribune quoted a ABC network report that "troops had captured the facility with tanks and armoured units and had met little resistance" this morning.

"An American television reporter traveling with the US 3d Infantry Division, Bob Schmidt, spoke from the tarmac of Saddam International Airport and said the o­nly opposition had come from 'scattered firing by Iraqi foot soldiers and men in pickups'," said IHT , picking up from the ABC network. IHT however said that the report could not be independently confirmed.

IHT

also reported that in Baghdad, Iraq's Information Minister, Mohammed Said Sahhaf, convened his daily press conference and said that the US troops were "not even 100 miles" from Baghdad.

When told by a reporter that news reports said US troops were outside the airport he smiled and responded sarcastically, "If that's the case we'll go and welcome them with flowers and music."

The minister also added that the invading forces held no territory in Iraq and offered a litany of Iraqi military successes that were in stark contrast with reports from US officers and the journalists traveling with them.

IHT

also quoted Iraqi officials as saying that rockets landed o­n a civilian village o­n the eastern side of the airport, killing or wounding nearly 100 people. However wires agencies quoted witnesses as saying that many if not most of the casualties appeared to be military.

Baghdad in darkness

While in intense battle is o­ngoing for the control of the airport, US planes blasted targets in and around the city, where the power went off yesterday for the first time since the conflict began.

However US officials said their forces had not targeted the electricity grid.

Reuters

reported that at least 16 loud explosions rocked central Baghdad in the early hours of Friday, in what has become an almost routine nocturnal bombardment of the capital. Many hit presidential palaces belonging to Saddam.

About 100 explosions were also heard south of the sprawling city of five million people, along with artillery fire.

The news agency also said that the airport appeared to be a key objective for US forces. It quoted military analysts who said it could be used as a forward operating base in any battle for the ancient city.

On the power outage in Baghdad, IHT reported that the blackout raised the possibility that more operations by special forces could be carried out unseen by Iraqi troops, most who lack night-vision capability.

In another sign that secretive operations were perhaps being stepped up, the US Central Command yesterday showed nighttime video of special forces raiding a palace used by Saddam and his sons north of Baghdad. Brigadier General Vince Brooks said the troops did not find any of the regime's leaders but did find a large number of documents.

IHT

also reported that the US special forces were blocking the road, north of Baghdad, between Baghdad and Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam and many other top Iraqi leaders. The move could cut off an escape route to Tikrit.

Fatwa in support of US

Meanwhile in other battle fronts, Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq, backed by small groups of US soldiers, advanced toward the northern oil town of Mosul but were met by heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, said Reuters .

The news agency also reported that further south, US troops moved into the center of the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Najaf, searching for paramilitary fighters, and tightened their grip o­n Nassiriya, where they appeared to be in full control of bridges over the Euphrates.

In Najaf, the United States appeared to gain key support from a Shiite Muslim leader, who reportedly issued a fatwa asking Iraqis not to hinder the invasion.

IHT

reported that the fatwa was issued by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the leader of a theological school in Najaf, who has been under house arrest since a failed Shiite uprising in the south following the 1991 Gulf War.

Sistani is o­ne of the highest authorities in Shiite Islam and thus o­ne of the most influential religious leaders in Iraq, which has a Shiite majority.

IHT

said that this was a rare moment of support for the US invasion by a Muslim cleric which the US officials called a turning point.

Casualties list

Reuters

also reported that in the far south, British forces surrounding Iraq's second city of Basra edged into the outskirts, capturing an industrial complex where Iraqi militia had spearheaded fierce resistance.

On casualties front, the United States lists 54 dead and 12 missing since the war began. Britain says it has suffered 27 dead.

Iraq has not given figures for military deaths, but Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said more than 1,250 civilians have been killed, a figure that could not be independently checked.