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Fierce
Fighting Throughout Baghdad, Saddam Targeted
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A10 "tank killer" plane fired two missiles at al-Jazeera office, killing a correspondent |
BAGHDAD, April 8
(IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.S.-led invasion warplanes
struck Saddam Hussein's Republican Palace in Baghdad Tuesday, April 8,
as U.S. tanks fought their way across the compound amid heavy exchanges
of tank, artillery and gun fire, correspondents said.
After
five hours of intense clashes, two U.S. Abrams tanks rolled out of the
northern entrance of the compound and took up position on the adjacent
Al-Jumhuriya bridge, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP)
correspondents.
Exchanges
of fire then broke out with Iraqi forces on the east side of the river
for the first time since U.S. armor stormed into the city center early
Monday.
Warplanes
raided the massive complex which lies on the west bank of the Tigris
river at least twice after fighting inside the compound broke out just
before 5:00 a.m. (0100 GMT).
And
for the first time a U.S. air force A10 "tank killer" plane
also attacked Saddam's main palace in the capital – the same plane
that fired two missiles at al-Jazeera offices, killing a correspondent
and wounding another.
The
A10 swooped twice to fire at very low altitude on the northern entrance
of the compound and on the planning ministry, just outside the northern
gate of the sprawling complex.
It
returned to open fire a third time on an area beyond the planning
ministry, apparently on a road leading to the information ministry.
The
A10 released decoy flares against missiles as it rose in the sky after
each pass.
The exchanges of fire moved progressively along the river bank,
northward toward the al-Jumhuriya (Republic) bridge where battles were
taking place at the compound's northern gates.
Dark
smoke was billowing into the sky from several areas within the compound,
mainly near the planning ministry, on a roundabout leading to the
administrative district where the ministries of information and foreign
affairs are located.
An
explosion was also heard in the area of the al-Rashid hotel, a landmark
in Baghdad, which was believed to have been taken by U.S. troops and
around which intensive battles raged Monday.
The
palace clashes erupted after a series of loud explosions followed by
intense exchanges of gunfire in the compound, which left a huge fire
burning, engulfing vegetation in the grounds.
Saddam
Targeted
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Saddam and his two sons |
Meanwhile, a U.S. aircraft
has bombed a target in Baghdad, where U.S. officials are
"confident" Saddam Hussein and his two sons, Qusai and
Uday were holed up in.
A U.S.
military spokesperson confirmed this morning its aircraft had hit
what it called a "leadership target" in the Baghdad district
of Mansur Monday afternoon with four 2,000 pound bombs.
Pentagon sources say
they are increasingly confident Saddam is dead but there is no
official or independent confirmation as to whether the
Iraqi president or his sons died in the strike, according to
British Daily Mirror.
The strike took place after
American intelligence learned of a high-level meeting in Baghdad between
senior Iraqi intelligence officials
The information was passed
to U.S. Central Command, which then gave orders for aircraft to drop
bunker-busting bombs on the target.
The attack was carried out
by a single B-1B bomber, which dropped four bunker-buster bombs on
the residential building.
In
another front, the first exchange of fire erupted between Iraqi and U.S.
forces on the east bank of the Tigris in Baghdad Tuesday after two U.S.
Abrams tanks rolled onto a major bridge, AFP correspondents reported.
The
tanks had moved out of the northern entrance of Saddam Husssein's main
palace in the city center and taken up position on the Al-Jumhuriya
bridge.
Ninety-One
Killed In Iraq: Pentagon
Amid
deep doubts over transparency on the part of the Americans ever since
the break of the controversial invasion, the Pentagon announced late
Monday that ninety-one U.S. military personnel have been killed and 155
injured since March 20.
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Saddam Republican Palace |
Of
those, 75 were killed either in "friendly fire" incidents or
in fighting with the Iraqi forces, a Pentagon spokesman claimed
Among
them were two soldiers killed in an Iraqi rocket attack earlier on a
U.S. army position south of Baghdad. Fifteen other soldiers were wounded
in that attack.
Sixteen
others were killed in accidents, and two were killed in a grenade attack
by a renegade U.S. soldier at a camp in Kuwait.
In
addition, seven U.S. troops are being held as prisoners of war and eight
others are reported missing in action.
The
U.S. casualties "remind us of the heavy price we often pay for
freedom," said General Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S.
military's joint chiefs of staff, earlier in the day.
Myers
and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Sunday visited U.S. wounded
at an army hospital and a navy hospital in the Washington area.
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