US Army units moved in force to seal off the conservative town of Fallujah west of Baghdad early today, intending to raid the homes of suspected militia leaders and search for illegal weapons in a major, co-ordinated operation.

ASSAILANTS fired rocket-propelled grenades at a checkpoint in Baghdad’s southwestern suburbs, killing one US paratrooper and wounding another, a military statement said yesterday.

TOWARDS Baghdad, part of the 3rd Infantry Division had reached the area of the Shiite holy city of Najaf after a 230 mile, 40-hour sprint through the desert, killing 100 machine gun-toting militiamen along the way.

DRIVING night and day, more than 70 American tanks and 60 armoured troop carriers raced 700 miles across rough desert terrain, a bold flanking movement that placed US forces less than a day's march from Baghdad yesterday.

In one of the fastest penetrations of hostile territory ever recorded, the US 3rd Infantry division, 2nd Brigade covered 228 miles in less than 40 hours to take fighting positions near the halfway mark to Baghdad.