Sounds of war backdrop to life in the city

MEN smoked water pipes at cafes and played backgammon outside their homes and teenagers played soccer in Baghdad’s streets yesterday even as US troops rolled through the Iraqi capital.

Iraqi television and radio still on the air broadcast patriotic songs and slogans and archival footage of President Saddam Hussein firing a gun and greeting crowds of followers.

Radio played a religious sermon exhorting Iraqis to fight and denouncing the US and Britain.