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Attack on airport

Baghdadis flee after 'night of hell'

REUTERS, Baghdad
Residents fled suburbs near Baghdad airport toward the city center on Friday, running from what one called a "night of hell" as US forces moved in.
Cars loaded with blankets and possessions on the roof raced up the main highway from the airport as residents felt the 16-day-old US-led war had arrived in the capital.
There was little sign of new military preparations, aside from groups of green-uniformed militiamen armed with automatic rifles manning barricades throughout the city.
Most shops were shut and people largely stayed indoors, confused as reports -- not carried on state media -- percolated through that US troops had seized Saddam International Airport.
US commanders told Reuters outside the city that the airport was indeed now under their control.
"There was banging all night. It was a night of hell," said one woman, trembling after her drive from the airport district.
"We saw that they have entered Baghdad, there were planes all night dropping bombs and there was shelling all night."
She had stopped to buy bread at one of the few stores open on Friday
morning -- the Muslim holy day.
"It was terrifying. Not just for the kids but for us adults," the woman said, adding that many of her neighbors in the Radwaniya suburb near the airport were also fleeing to take refuge with friends and relatives closer to the center.
"It was one of the worst nights of bombing," said Rakid Abdel-Karim, who works in the bakery on the airport road.
The city center itself was initially deserted but around mid-morning some life returned, as a few private cars ventured out and Baghdad's big red double-decker buses resumed services.
There were some queues at petrol stations that were open. Most were closed because all electric power in the city went off overnight, but some stations used their own generators.
In the early afternoon, explosions could be heard from the direction of the international airport.
Elsewhere, it was hard to tell where there was fresh bomb damage. Air Force command headquarters, struck three days ago, appeared to have suffered a fresh hit. US-led forces said they had targeted the building in central Baghdad.
It was not clear whether the power outage, which continued through the
morning, was caused by bombing or by the Baghdad authorities. The completeness of the blackout suggested it might have been done to conceal overnight Iraqi troop movements.
The weather was hot and black smoke still drifted over the city from oil-filled trenches set alight on the outskirts in an attempt to thwart US-led air raids.
State television was off the air for a while but later came back on, broadcasting nationalist songs in praise of President Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi army.
The television said Saddam had ordered that all families whose houses were destroyed by bombardment be compensated within 72 hours. He also ordered generous payments to families of the killed and injured.
State radio broadcast news bulletins quoting a military spokesman as saying Iraqi troops had destroyed 18 US tanks and shot down a fighter jet and two helicopters.
There was no mention of fighting near the capital. On Thursday, the information minister dismissed that as "silly."
The main newspapers carried confident headlines.
"Victory is assured, God willing," said one, al-Qadissiya.