US troops stormed into the heart of Baghdad yesterday, grabbing two of President Saddam Hussein's palace compounds but losing four dead on the fringes of the capital as Iraqi forces fought back fiercely.

Some of Iraq’s best conventional forces have been routed by Allied bombing and ground fighting, but more lie between the advancing American troops and Baghdad, US military officials warned today.

Some Iraqi Republican Guard units moved south from Baghdad toward US forces that are approaching the capital, Pentagon officials said today.

“WE let them go for a walk in the desert, but all our towns will resist.”

BAGHDAD came under new bombardment last night. The intense sandstorm which has blanketed the city made it impossible to determine where the latest air strikes were hitting. There were no air raid alerts before the attack began.

By Jim Caldwell

TROOPS and equipment from the Iraqi Republican Guard have begun moving south toward Baghdad from their base near Mosul in northern Iraq, US defence officials said yesterday.

A DECADE after the “mother of all battles” that never came, Saddam Hussein’s regime says American soldiers who dare to invade will face “rivers of blood” and “disgraceful failure.”