Allies in pitched battles with Republican Guards 50 miles from Baghdad

US-LED troops fought pitched battles with Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard within 50 miles of the capital yesterday as coalition warplanes pounded the city and dozens of other Iraqi positions in advance of the battle for Baghdad.

Two US soldiers were killed in fierce fighting for control of the south-central city of Najaf. In the closest ground fighting yet to Saddam's seat of power in Baghdad, US troops with the 3rd Infantry Division pushed into the Euphrates River town of Hindiyah yesterday. Iraqi soldiers fired from behind brick walls and hedges with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, and US troops returned fire with 25mm cannon and machine guns.

At least 35 Iraqis were killed and US forces captured several dozen others who identified themselves as members of the Republican Guard Saddam's best-trained and best-equipped fighters. Their uniforms carried the elite unit's triangular insignia and they said they were with the Nebuchadnezzar Brigade, based in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit.