At least 2,000 Iraqis were killed when US troops swept through Baghdad on Saturday, US Central Command has said. The operation involved more than 30 tanks and armoured vehicles which entered the city from the southern outskirts. They encountered fierce resistance in some areas and suffered a number of casualties. The aim was to show Saddam Hussein that the city could be breached at any time, said one officer. US troops now hope to have Baghdad completely surrounded by the end of the day. A military spokesman said they have taken control of highways leading northwest and west out of Baghdad. The US Army was moving in from the south-west, while the US Marine Corps was approaching from the south-east. In addition, there are now 7,000 US soldiers at Baghdad International Airport, which was seized on Friday. A claim by Iraq that it was recaptured after fierce fighting has been dismissed as "baseless" by the US military. Iraq's Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said 16 American tanks were destroyed or damaged and 50 soldiers killed in overnight skirmishes around the airport. "Republican Guards are still tightening the noose around the US enemy in the area," he said.
Yep. They've got us right where we want them...
FOLLOWUP: From New York Times/AP...
U.S. officials declared a near chokehold on the capital even while warning that many other parts of Iraq are not yet under allied control. ``They're pretty much cut off in all directions,'' Air Force Capt. Dani Burrows, speaking for Central Command, said of Baghdad's fighters.
While acknowledging Americans raided a suburb, Iraqi leaders talked bravely of prevailing. ``We were able to chop off their rotten heads,'' said a televised statement from the Iraq military, claiming victories no one could see. Iraqi information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf warned Iraqis against false claims ``that the enemy has landed here or there,'' clearly referring to TV footage of coalition forces in Baghdad. Allied warplanes now are flying over Baghdad nonstop, using munitions that include concrete-filled bombs meant to damage fixed targets with less risk to civilian buildings nearby.