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.