Republican Guards head for showdown with US troops

SADDAM HUSSEIN’S Republican Guards were headed on a collision course with American forces south of Baghdad last night in the first sign of an Iraqi offensive out of the capital.

A huge Iraqi convoy rolled south of Baghdad last night, headed toward American forces aiming for Saddam Hussein’s seat of power.

Iraqi troops also went on the offensive out of Basra in southern Iraq. British military intelligence confirmed last night that coalition warplanes had attacked a huge convoy of tanks and armoured personnel carriers which were heading south-east from Basra towards the al-Faw peninsula.