Hospitals in chaos as US prepares for final assault
While the bombs and artillery rained down on the Iraqi capital, relief organisations warned of a growing humanitarian crisis.
President Saddam Hussein's information minister insisted forces loyal to the Iraqi leader were pushing back the invaders. But the reality was that US troops appeared to be methodically preparing the ground for a final assault to kill or capture Saddam, his sons and all his top associates and were meeting little organised or sustained resistance.
US officers said they had cut most approaches to the sprawling capital of five million people. As if to emphasise the point, the first US military aircraft, a C-130, landed at Baghdad's international airport after nightfall, the first plane to land there since US forces seized the facility early last Friday.
In the north, a US plane bombed a convoy of US special forces and Kurdish fighters, killing 18 Kurds and wounding over 45, including the brother of Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani.
In the south, British forces punched into the heart of Basra, changing tactics after encircling and gradually stepping up pressure on Iraq's second city Three British soldiers were killed in the assault. In Baghdad, mortar and artillery fire thundered over the city during the day. Shops were shuttered and streets deserted. The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Baghdad hospitals were struggling to cope with a deluge of wounded that has stretched resources to the limit and caused growing chaos.
Meanwhile, US President George W Bush arrives in Belfast later today to discuss plans for post-war Iraq and the Northern Ireland peace process with British Prime Minster Tony Blair.
Tomorrow, Mr Bush will meet Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Mr Blair and leaders of the pro-Agreement in a bid to break the deadlock in the North's peace process by Thursday the fifth anniversary of the signing of the historic deal.
Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble is hoping Mr Bush will issue an ultimatum to republicans, threatening sanctions in the US if the IRA fails to disarm. Mr Ahern said yesterday he was confident a deal could be secured by the end of the week and Sinn Féin's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said they were determined to see everyone move towards the biggest action of completion.
But a massive anti-war protest is being planned for Hillsborough Castle this evening. The Irish Anti-War movement called on all political parties to boycott the meeting. Their spokesman Richard Boyd Barrett accused the Irish Government of co-operating with the US war effort and said Mr Bush should not be given the opportunity to call himself a peacemaker while he was murdering innocent victims in Iraq.
A Government spokesperson last night said they accept that there are criticisms in relation to the meeting.
