SADDAM HUSSEIN’S Republican Guards were headed on a collision course with American forces south of Baghdad last night in the first sign of an Iraqi offensive out of the capital.

Two American missiles struck a village in south-west Iran early today, according to a report by the country’s Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

Two British Royal Navy helicopters collided today over the Persian Gulf, killing the six British and one American crewmen on board, military officials said.

US and British troops have captured the strategic port in the southern Iraqi city of Umm Qasr, a British military spokeswoman said today.

British and American troops advanced through the deserts of southern Iraq in armoured convoys today after launching the war’s ground assault.