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Battle for Baghdad looms

Convoy columns head for capital, two million in Basra face disaster; 200 civilians killed; another UK soldier dies; fierce fighting continues

STAR DESK
Massive columns of high-tech war machines are rolling across the desert towards Baghdad for a decisive showdown to capture the Iraqi capital of five million people.
The intention is clear -- skirt the towns where resistance is high and get the full force to the ultimate target: Saddam Hussein.
Jets rumbled above the Baghdad sky and heavy artillery pounded Iraqi forces positioned just outside capital. By tonight, US-British troops, now within 80 kilometres off the city, hope to establish control around Baghdad.
But a severe sandstorm has halted the advance and troops took cover under tanks and lorries.
Iraq remained defiant despite the looming threat and vowed to fight back. It said every town has six months' food and ammunition storage to withstand the onslaught.
US-British forces are still facing stiff resistance in Nassiriyah, Kirkuk and Karbala. But they are putting behind the hostile cities as soon as possible to head toward the capital.
In yesterday's firefight, another British soldier was killed in southern Iraq, taking to 20 the number of dead and missing British troops since the war started.
Baghdad air was filled with foreboding and people rushed out to meet their near and dear ones.
It was also a city of funeral.
Those who died in the last six days of attacks were laid to rest. Angry funeral processionists cursed Bush and Blair. Mothers wept and beat their chests in angst.
The mood was black.
Iraqis are now getting ready for urban guerrilla warfare inside the city, belying the US-British expectation of being greeted as "liberators".
Basra battle
In the second important city of Basra, Iraqi forces put up a fierce fight.
The joint forces are now avoiding the city and heading towards Baghdad although it has been declared a "military object".
A bigger disaster however looms over the two million inhabitants as the city has been without water or electricity since Friday.
The Unicef said lives of tens of thousands of people of the city are now at risk as they are forced to drink from the river where raw sewage is being dumped.
Iraqi civilians and troops are ready for a street fight in case the joint forces dare to enter.
Nassiriyah breakthrough
A big convoy of US Marines finally crossed the Euphrates river and Saddam Canal at the southern city of Nassiriyah yesterday, resuming an advance toward Baghdad after three days of fighting that cost them 10 dead, 12 wounded and 16 missing.
The convoy raced through the streets along a protective corridor of American armour, crossing first the river and then the canal, before leaving a still-hostile city behind. Their convoys often came under attacks both from civilians and the Iraqi Republican Guard.
A Reuters correspondent saw the Marines use Cobra attack helicopters, artillery and heavy machineguns to quell firing from
Nassiriyah after trying since Sunday to seize its two vital bridges.
At least two Iraqis, apparently civilians, were killed in the latest fighting. Women wept over their corpses. Two Marines were slightly wounded and two wounded Iraqi soldiers were captured.
With the Marine now across the Euphrates at Nassiriyah, a separate military column was heading up the main Basra-Baghdad Highway, which crosses the river to the west of Nassiriyah.
Battle of Karbala
Troops from the US army 5th Corps have formed a frontline just north of Karbala, only 50 miles south of Baghdad. Vast convoys of tanks and ground forces are racing up from Kuwait to join them for the battle that will ultimately decide the war in Iraq.
"This is the start of the push towards Baghdad," a senior British military source said last night.
Ahead of them are 36,000 elite Iraqi soldiers, from three divisions, who represent half of the total Republican Guard force. Protected in sprawling bunkers 30 miles outside Baghdad, the armoured divisions are equipped with the best weapons in the Iraqi military, including Russian-built T-72 tanks
and heavy artillery.
Umm Qasr
US military said Umm Qasr is now "secure" after three days of severe fighting and that emergency aid will reach there within 48 hours.
Situation there is desperate as severe water and food crises have gripped dwellers. People are even approaching the invading forces for water.
"We have children, babies, and we are all so thirsty," Salman, a port worker, told AFP. "We don't know what will happen tomorrow, the day after tomorrow."
Kirkuk rocks
Iraq's northern oil capital of Kirkuk has been rocked by 24 hours of almost non-stop bombardment.
A resident in Kirkuk contacted by telephone told AFP that targets inside and around the city had been raided since late Sunday.
Casualties
Iraq said 200 of its civilians were killed in bombings in Baghdad. It also claimed eight US-British troops were killed in the battle of Nassiriyah and three choppers downed.
AFP reported more than 100 Iraqi bodies were seen littered outside Nassiriyah.