Battle for Baghdad starts

Closing in on Baghdad itself, US forces seized yesterday a bridge over the Tigris River and swept past battered Republican Guard units. Soldiers on the front and relatives 6,000 miles away in West Virginia rejoiced over the bold rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch from captivity in an Iraqi hospital.

The Army’s 3rd Infantry Division and the First Marine Expeditionary Force both reported breakthroughs as some units entered the so-called "red zone" within 80 kilometers of the capital. US officials say Iraqi resistance will be most tenacious in this zone and have warned of the possible use of chemical weapons.

In an attack launched at midnight, 3rd Infantry units surged past the strategic city of Karbala, targeting an estimated 2,000 paramilitary fighters. Karbala, which sits on the main approach to Baghdad from the southwest, was encircled and hit by night-long bombardment from US artillery and warplanes.

To the east, thousands of Marines were moving against the city of Kut after capturing an important bridge over the Tigris River. The fall of Kut would open up a key highway approach to Baghdad from the southeast.

The Republican Guard’s Medina Division around Karbala and its Baghdad Division around Kut are among the main military forces in the way of an American advance on Baghdad. US defense officials say recent airstrikes and artillery barrages have reduced the strength of both divisions by more than 50 percent.

"We are aware of where the Republican Guard was positioned; we have engaged them and are into their area," said a US Central Command spokesman, Navy Capt. Frank Thorp. "The battle is being waged and we are doing well."

The commander of British forces in Iraq, Air Marshal Brian Burridge, confirmed that the latest assaults by his US allies marked the start of a momentous phase.

"This is certainly a decisive engagement in which we are now just beginning with the Republican Guard," he said. "The point I would make, though, is that decisive phases often take time. I wouldn’t want to give you the impression that within a day or two this is going to be finished."

Baghdad again came under intense bombardment Wednesday, with telephone exchanges among the targets hit, and again the Iraqi government responded defiantly. Iraqi satellite television broadcast a statement attributed to Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) declaring that "victory is at hand."

A separate decree, also attributed to Saddam, offered cash rewards to anyone who helps uncover spies assisting the US-led coalition.

Saddam did not appear in person. US officials say they are not sure whether is he alive and well, wounded from an air strike on one of his bunkers, or dead.

In addition to the reported successes on the front lines, US soldiers were elated by news that Lynch ó a prisoner of war from nine days ó had been rescued by special forces from an Iraqi hospital in Nasiriyah where she was being treated for injuries.

"I thought at first it was an April Fool’s joke," said her father, Greg Lynch Sr., of Palestine, W. Va. "I thought this was a cruel joke. I can put up with most things, but not that. They assured me, no, it’s not a joke.

His 19-year-old daughter had been missing with 11 other US soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company. They were ambushed near Nasiriyah after making a wrong turn during early fighting in the invasion of Iraq. Five other members of her unit were later shown on Iraqi television answering questions from their captors.

Thorp said the rescue team, operating in darkness, retrieved 11 bodies from in and around the Iraqi hospital, at least some of them believed to be Americans. Forensics experts were summoned to try to identify the bodies.

Several hours after the commando raid, US marines seized the Nasiriyah hospital. Civilian patients and medical staff emerged from the building with their hands up; most were allowed to leave or to return into the building for treatment.

Amid the elation over Lynch’s rescue, sobering new details were reported about an incident Monday in which members of an Iraqi family were killed when US soldiers opened fire on their vehicle near a checkpoint.

A correspondent for the Knight Ridder Newspapers quoted surviving family members yesterday as saying they had decided to leave their village and flee toward US lines because they thought a leaflet dropped by American helicopters told them to "be safe."

Bakhat Hassan — who said he lost two daughters, a son, his parents, two older brothers, their wives and two nieces in the incident — said US soldiers at an earlier checkpoint had waved them through. As they approached another checkpoint 25 miles south of Karbala, they waved again at the American soldiers. Those soldiers fired.

"I saw the heads of my two little girls come off," said Hassan’s wife, Lamea, 36.

US officials originally gave the death toll as seven in the incident, while reporters at the scene placed it at 10. Hassan’s father died at the Army hospital later; he said that made the toll 11.

In southern Iraq, British forces continued to skirmish with Iraqi defenders in the encircled city of Basra while hoping that civilians turn against those paramilitary fighters.

"We’re getting a lot of assistance from the local population now but we’re treading very carefully," Group Capt. Al Lockwood told Sky News TV. "It’s important to us that the civilian population is protected and we reduce the damage to infrastructure as much as possible."