Tanks, aircraft attack targets

US and Iraqi forces battled in the southern Iraqi port town of Umm Qasr yesterday, with tanks and aircraft attacking targets where at least 120 Iraqi Republican Guards were reported to be dug in.

After two air strikes by British Harrier jets, each dropping one 500-pound bomb, some Iraqis could be seen waving white flags and surrendering.

A US commander on the spot said: “It made sense for us to do this. Rather than send men in there, we’re just going to destroy it.”

On Saturday, US officials had said they had won control of the strategic town, Iraq’s only deep-water port.

In Baghdad, Iraq’s Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said: “The heroic Iraqi fighters in Umm Qasr will throw the infidel British and American mercenaries to certain death.”

Reuters correspondent Adrian Croft said the firefight, which lasted through the morning, erupted after US forces came under fire. Marines opened up with bursts of heavy machinegun fire in an area where they had set up a headquarters in the town.

Captain Rick Crevier, commander of Fox Company of the 2nd Battalion 1st US Marine Regiment, said a captured Iraqi officer had told them 120 Republican guards were dug in.

The Marines called in two M-1 Abrams tanks to shell and machinegun the targets and later pulled back the armour to clear the area for the air strikes.

The tanks also used heavy machineguns to rake several buildings and a line of trees where Iraqi forces were believed to be dug in. One direct hit inflicted heavy damage on a three-story building in a compound where the Iraqi flag was still flying.

Live television showed US troops lying on their bellies about 300 metres from the building under attack.

Black smoke billowed from the target area and one tank could be seen advancing slowly toward the building.

Earlier, Arabic television al-Jazeera’s correspondent in Umm Qasr said Iraqis appeared to be “counter-attacking” in the port city. The television and Abu Dhabi television said there were reports of three US or British troops being killed in the Sunday battle. The sourcing was not clear and Abu Dhabi TV correspondent said it was not possible to confirm the report.

The battle came one day after US military officials reported seizing control of Umm Qasr, despite pockets of resistance in residential areas of the town.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in Washington on Friday US and British forces had already captured Umm Qasr. Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf on Saturday dismissed the statement as “illusions and lies”.

US-led forces say they need the port to send in humanitarian aid to show ordinary Iraqis Washington and London are serious about helping rebuild Iraq after their planned overthrow of President Saddam Hussein.

Military experts say the port might also help to resupply US-led forces if the war drags on.

It raised the question of what fighting on the outskirts of Baghdad would look like and how long it would take to suppress.

If was not clear whether the Iraqis were simply a band of diehards or a unit deliberately employing pre-planned tactics of “asymmetric” warfare to hold up the US offensive.

The time being taken to suppress the resistance at Umm Qasr is in direct proportion to the desire to avoid casualties.

In a World War II battle of survival the enemy pocket would probably have been stormed.