US troops are strengthening their position around Iraqi capital Baghdad, having reached the Tigris river north of the city and establishing control of the western half of a circle around the city with marines moving to extend it to the east, reported BBC today.

The British news provider also reported that Iraqi officials acknowledging that US-led troops approached the southern outskirts of the city but say Republican Guard units repelled the advance.

"On Sunday evening a US military C-130 cargo plane became the first flight to land at Baghdad's international airport since US forces seized the area o­n Friday, " said BBC , quoting US officials.

The news also added that fierce fighting erupted in the western suburbs of the capital when units of the US 3rd Infantry encountered determined resistance from Iraqi troops.

"The US soldiers fought their way north, killing or wounding hundreds of Iraqis and inflicting damage o­n their equipment," a US military official was quoted by the BBC .

One-sided battle?

The report said that the Iraqis lost 23 tanks, 22 artillery pieces and 30 armoured personnel carriers, adding that, according to US commanders, there will be more incursions into the city to maintain pressure o­n Iraqi troops.

CNN

reported that more than 2,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed or wounded when coalition forces swept through Baghdad o­n Saturday o­n what was called a reconnaissance mission

The coalition also continued its air campaign over the city, with six explosions hitting the southern outskirts early o­n today.

The New York Times quoted US officials describing the fighting in and around Baghdad as very o­ne-sided. "In some cases we take a few wounded, and in some cases we have o­ne or two killed," US Brig Gen Vincent K Brooks was quoted as telling reporters at Central Command headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

In a counter claim, the Iraqi authorities say they have strengthened defences o­n the streets of Baghdad and dispute US claims that coalition forces control the airport.

"This regime will not be defeated by mercenaries, God forbid," Information Minister Mohammed Saeed Sahhaf told reporters at his daily briefing in Baghdad.

Fleeing citizens

Iraqi forces also showed off a destroyed US tank to reporters o­n a highway leading south out of Baghdad and said four US soldiers had been killed.

News wire reports said Iraqi state television showed brief footage of a smiling Saddam in military uniform presiding at a meeting it said was held Sunday with his top aides.

Separately, TV quoted Saddam as saying anyone who destroys a coalition tank, armored personnel carrier or artillery will receive a US$5,000 reward. TV also broadcast a statement attributed to Hussein urging soldiers separated from their regular units to join up with any unit they can find.

According to a New York Times report, thousands of Iraqis were trying to flee the city, but the invading forces have set up roadblocks to snare Iraqi military or government officials who might try to escape.

Russian diplomats under cross fire

The Times also reported that a convoy of Russian journalists and diplomats, including Moscow's ambassador to Iraq, was fired upon as they rode out. Five were hurt, but not the ambassador. It was not clear who did the shooting, and there were protests and demands for inquiries.

The Washington Post reported that the five Russian Embassy employees evacuating the capital were injured when their convoy was caught in a firefight between Iraqi soldiers and US troops.

"Russian Ambassador Vladimir Titorenko and 22 other embassy staff members and journalists were traveling in eight cars past Iraqi positions just west of the city when the Iraqis came under intense fire from coalition forces," the Post quoted Alexander Minakov, a Russian reporter with the RTR television network, as saying.

"Naturally the Iraqis started to return fire. So we found ourselves caught in the crossfire, basically," Minakov told the state-controlled network.

The driver of the ambassador's car was hit in the abdomen and had to undergo an emergency operation in an Iraqi hospital in Feluja, about 50 kilometers west of Baghdad, he said. Two other embassy employees were also seriously injured and two had slight injuries, according to the journalist.

Basra under British control

In Basra, after two weeks of siege and raids, British tanks, troops and armored vehicles thrust into the heart of Basra in a two-pronged attack that wiped out defensive positions in storms of artillery shelling and tank fire, killing hundreds of Iraqi irregulars and seizing control over much of the city.

The New York Times said that three British soldiers were killed.

"Iraqi casualties were unknown, but British commanders spoke of mopping up in the next few days. While most Basra residents stayed indoors, some ventured out, greeting invaders with delight or distress. Looting was reported in some residential and business districts," added the Times .

The daily said that hundreds of British troops in Challenger II tanks and Warrior armoured vehicles punched into the center of Basra, with the British advance coming from two directions.

"By nightfall, with a heavy layer of smoke from several fires engulfing the city, the British controlled the entire southern half of Basra but were still fighting sporadic battles with Baath Party militiamen armed with assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades."

Fate of Chemical Ali unknown

Also in Basra, the house of Gen Ali Hassan Majeed, Hussein's cousin and close confidant, was bombed by two allied warplanes, US Central Command said.

It was not clear whether the strike killed Majeed, who is known as "Chemical Ali" because he allegedly ordered the use of chemical weapons o­n Kurds in the country's north who had rebelled in coordination with Iran during the 1980-88 war.

Brooks said o­n Sunday that the body of Majeed's bodyguard was recovered from the wreckage, "but as far as Ali, who knows"

Asked whether Chemical Ali had been killed, Iraqi information minister Sahhaf told reporters in Baghdad: "Let them [bask] in their illusions."

Friendly bombs o­n US-Kurd convoy

However the coalition forces suffered some set back in northern Iraq when two US jets bombed a convoy of Kurdish and US troops as it passed through broken Iraqi lines o­n a key ridge near the village of Dibagah.

At least 18 Kurdish fighters were killed. A Pentagon official said o­ne US Special Operations soldier was also apparently killed. A BBC television correspondent was also injured, reported the Washington Post.

The daily said that the bombing of the US-Kurdish convoy in northern Iraq was the worst "friendly fire" incident of the war.

Among the 45 Kurds wounded in the attack was Waji Barzani, brother of o­ne of the top leaders of the Iraqi Kurds. The Kurds are fierce adversaries of Hussein's government and have put their combat forces under US command.

BBC

reporter John Simpson, who was traveling in the convoy, earlier reported that at least 10 people were killed. "This is a just a scene from hell here. There are vehicles o­n fire, bodies lying around, and there are bits of bodies around me," Simpson said. US military officials were investigating that incident