Troops tighten noose around Basra

British and American troops were tightening the noose around a key city in southern Iraq tonight as Baghdad braced itself for yet another massive aerial bombardment.

Several large explosions rocked the capital after dark as war planes could be heard roaring overhead.

Anti-aircraft fire arced up into the darkness as Pentagon sources confirmed that B-2 stealth bombers were in action.

In his first comments since the start of hostilities, the man running the war, US General Tommy Franks, promised a sustained military assault “unlike any other in history”.

Iraqi forces earlier set fire to oil containers on the outskirts of Baghdad in a bid to shroud probable targets with a thick cloud of black smoke.

In southern Iraq, British and American troops moved on the strategic port of Basra today and thousands of beleaguered Iraqi soldiers surrendered in the face of the Allied assault.

US jets bombed Iraqi tanks holding bridges near the city of 1.3 million, and Iraqi forces hit back with artillery fire. US Marines captured an airport north of the city after a fierce gun battle.

Coalition forces also moved through the southern port of Umm Qasr, a “relatively well-defended city,” one US military official said.

There was still some artillery fire, but the aim was not to occupy the city, but rather move through it en route to Baghdad, he said.

“We do not have firm confirmation that Umm Qasr has been secured but our ambition is to open the port and get humanitarian aid into southern Iraq as soon as possible,” said Group Captain Al Lockwood, the spokesman for British forces in the Gulf.

Fighting in Umm Qasr included street-to-street battles against soldiers wearing civilian clothes and using guerrilla tactics, said British military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Vernon.