Troops in oil towns; Baghdad in chaos

2003-04-11 08:50

Baghdad - US and Kurdish troops entered two northern Iraqi oil cities, as US troops in Baghdad fended off sporadic attacks from Saddam Hussein loyalists, amid scenes of looting and chaos.

A suicide attack on Thursday killed a US soldier and wounded four others a day after the capital fell to US forces and Saddam's regime collapsed.

Another US soldier was killed and 20 were wounded in a battle with Saddam loyalists near a Baghdad mosque, evidence that Iraqi forces have not given up the fight.

Five ministries were set on fire in the centre of the occupied city and looters pillaged the German embassy and the French cultural centre.

US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a televised address to the Iraqi people on a new channel named "Towards Freedom," promising that the country's future lay in the hands of Iraqis.

But in Baghdad, where three weeks of bombing to wrest power from Saddam and his regime have shattered communication networks and cut the electricity supply, the message failed to reach its intended audience.

British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said that an incipient interim authority was likely to be in place within days in southern Iraq.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the military campaign had taken a heavy toll, urging the United States and Britain to respect international commitments to maintain law and order, amid the anarchy on Baghdad's streets.

"When you think of the casualties, both military and civilian, the Iraqis have paid a heavy price for this," he said.

"It appears there is no functioning government in Iraq at the moment."

US and Kurdish forces meanwhile moved into Kirkuk on Thursday and began entering Mosul, another key northern oil city, as Iraqi forces abandoned their positions and in some places surrendered their weapons, according US and Turkish officials.

In a repeat of dramatic scenes in Baghdad on Wednesday, Kirkuk residents toppled a statue of Saddam in the central square after a popular uprising which left Kurds in control of the city.

Kurdish fighters, numbering some 10 000, were ordered to leave Kirkuk early on Friday, a commander of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) General "Mam" Rostam told AFP, saying they would leave either Friday or Saturday.

The announcement came after Turkey said Thursday it had won a pledge from Washington to remove the Kurdish fighters from Kirkuk. Turkey fears that Kurdish control of the oil region could bankroll Kurdish independence and revive separatist sentiment among Turkey's own Kurds.

Ankara has repeatedly threatened to send its forces into the north if the Kurds take control of Kirkuk and Mosul.

Communicating with Turkey

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said US forces were in "good communication" with the Turkish government and the process was being conducted in an orderly fashion.

White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer said US-led troops would find the banned weapons that the United States claimed were held by the Iraqi regime.

"We have high confidence that they have weapons of mass destruction - that is what this war was about, and is about - and we have high confidence it will be found," he said.

In his television address to Iraqis, Bush said: "A long era of fear and cruelty is ending ... You deserve better than tyranny and corruption and torture chambers. You deserve to live as free people."

His vow was matched by Blair, Washington's steadfast ally in the 23-day war to oust Saddam.

"The money from Iraqi oil will be yours to be used to build prosperity for you and your families," he said.

"This Iraq will not be run by Britain, or by the US, or by the UN. It will be run by you, the people of Iraq."

US Central Command said it had dropped bombs on the house of Saddam's half-brother Barzan in the town of Al-Ramadi west of Baghdad but added that it was still assessing the impact of the attack.

It was unclear what had become of Saddam, who ruled for nearly a quarter century using fear and brutal repression, but in an interview with Indonesia's Metro TV US Secretary of State Colin Powell said it did not matter.

"Where he is as an individual I don't know, but it really doesn't make any difference any more. The regime has been brought down and the Iraqi people are now facing a brighter future," he said.

A tip that Saddam was hiding in a Baghdad mosque led to a firefight between marines and Saddam loyalists along the northern banks of the Tigris river.

Shooting at the mosque and at a presidential palace complex led to the death of a marine and the wounding of 20 more. US combat helicopters came to the aid of the troops and at least five Iraqi civilians were killed, witnesses said.

The battle was a stark reminder that not everyone in Baghdad was pleased to see US troops in the city.

US troops also clashed with isolated Iraqi loyalists and Saddam's Fedayeen paramilitary units in various parts of the city.

"Baghdad is still an ugly place. Many parts of the city are either not secured by US forces and in other parts there are paramilitary forces or Republican Guards," Major General Victor Renuart said.

A suicide car bombing that claimed the life of a US soldier also underscored the dangers facing US forces, Army Major General Stanley McChrystal, vice director of operations of the Joint Staff said in Washington.

Corpses littered the streets

Dozens of corpses, including those of children, and burnt-out cars littered the streets of the southwestern al-Dora neighbourhood, an AFP photographer said.

The fighting broke the calm that had reigned over Baghdad since US troops poured into the capital to scenes of jubilation on Wednesday, three weeks after the launch of the war on March 20.

Crowds no longer afraid to show their feelings for Saddam's regime ransacked deserted villas belonging to his son Uday and Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz. Iraqi opposition leader Ahmad Chalabi, the Pentagon's favourite for a leading role in post-war Iraq, said his country did not need US occupation until a government could be elected two years hence.

"We see no room for US administration and indeed the United States has said they hope to assist Iraqis in forming an interim Iraqi authority," he told BBC television's Newsnight program.

US diplomats are to ask 62 countries to cut their diplomatic relations with Iraq, to seize Iraqi assets and to expel senior diplomats.

Only about 20 countries had heeded the same US request before the start of the war last month.

Syria told US officials it had sealed its border with Iraq to all but humanitarian traffic in response to a flurry of allegations from Rumsfeld and others that Damascus is allowing military equipment and irregular troops to cross its border into Iraq to help Baghdad.

US forces continued to move north towards Tikrit, Saddam's home town, 200 kilometres north of Baghdad, a US military spokesperson said.

At the holy city of Najaf, senior Iraqi Shiite leader Abdul Majid al-Khoei was assassinated, a spokesperson for his London-based group told AFP.

On the diplomatic front, the leaders of France, Germany and Russia were due in Saint Petersburg on Friday for a summit they hope can somehow influence the aftermath of a war they all fiercely opposed.

The United States updated its toll from the war, saying 105 US troops had been killed, seven taken prisoners of war and 11 missing.

- AFX