US troops seize airfield in Kurdish area

AMERICAN troops have parachuted into northern Iraq and seized a key airfield in Kurdish-controlled territory to open a new front in the war against Saddam Hussein’s regime.

About 1,000 paratroopers, including elite US Army Rangers, jumped from the low-flying planes under cover of darkness. Their tanks, other vehicles and supplies will be airlifted in behind them.

Warplanes from the USS Theodore Roosevelt provided cover by pounding Iraqi ground troops and bunkers across the north of the country.