Fighting continuing in Basra

US jets bombed Iraqi tanks holding bridges, and American and British forces came under artillery fire later today as fighting increased around Basra.

Allied forces are trying to negotiate the surrender of the city, a British military spokesman said.

The Iraqi artillery failed to cause any coalition casualties or damage, and US Cobra attack helicopters flew overhead, making their way through clouds of smoke.

“There’s still a little bit of fighting but we’re getting there,” said US Navy Captain Frank Thorp from Central Command Headquarters in Qatar. “The information is that its not a major battle but that there is some fighting.”

Some barracks encountered by Allied troops around Highway 80 still needed to be cleared. US Marines used amphibious assault vehicles to surround clusters of low, crude concrete buildings and shell nearby tanks.

At one of the barracks, Iraqis emerged to surrender, stumbling across a rutted field clutching bags of belongings. As Marines moved towards them, the Iraqis knelt in the field with their arms crossed behind their heads.

Elsewhere groups of Iraqi men in civilian clothes stood near the road. Allied officers believed they were Iraqi soldiers who had fled their barracks and changed out of their uniforms before the British and US forces arrived.