More Allied casualties as advance continues

US-LED forces have suffered their worst casualties of the war in two bloody battles near Nassiriya that raged for hours before Iraqi resistance was vanquished.

The battles at Nassiriya drew some attention from the relentless advance of the US-led forces, now 60 miles from Baghdad after four days of the ground war.

Outside Najaf today, at the northern end of the advance, explosions and the red streaks of missiles lit the pre-dawn sky in skirmishes with Iraqi fighters.

Scores of American soldiers landed in Kurdish territory, as the move to open a northern front progressed.

"I think we are advancing more rapidly than anyone could have expected," said US Major General Daniel Leaf, who co-ordinates the coalition's air campaign.

But at Nassiriya on the Euphrates river, 230 miles south-east of Baghdad, near the ancient town of Ur the Allies sustained their worst casualties so far.

In response to the resistance, Marine officials said they expected to sidestep Nassiriya rather than fight to capture it the same strategy they employed in Basra.

This morning, tense Marines clogged the road in a convoy of hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles waiting to cross a pontoon bridge over the Euphrates outside the city.

American authorities detailed two bloody battles yesterday:

Marines encountered Iraqi troops who appeared to be surrendering. Instead, they attacked, starting of a "very sharp engagement", according to Lieutenant General John Abizaid, deputy commander at US Central Command.

In the end, the Americans triumphed, knocking out eight tanks, several anti-aircraft batteries, some artillery and infantry, Abizaid said. But victory came at a cost: as many as nine dead, and an undisclosed number of wounded.

A six-vehicle Army supply convoy apparently took a wrong turn, ventured into dangerous territory and was ambushed.

Iraqi television later showed five captured Americans and four bodies, which it said were those of US soldiers. Four others were wounded troops and were later evacuated later by Marines passing by.

The Iraqis were jubilant, claiming to have killed at least 25 Americans. "Our valiant forces were lying in wait for them, inflicting heavy losses on the covetous invaders," the Iraqi military said in a communiqué.

Separately, two British soldiers were missing after coming under attack yesterday in southern Iraq, the Ministry of Defence said.

The fighting backed up the long convoy at Nassiriya, but US officials said their advance was not slowed.

They refused to say however when they would get there.

"We will arrive in the vicinity of Baghdad soon, and I prefer to leave it at that," Abizaid said.