Iraq: Coalition will pay 'high price' for Baghdad

US forces will surround Baghdad within five to 10 days but are destined to spend months embroiled in savage street fighting, the Iraqi regime predicted tonight.

As the Iraqi capital was subjected to yet another night of bombardment by coalition forces, Iraq’s defence minister said the allies would have to enter the city eventually.

Sultan Hashim Ahmed told a news conference: “We set up our defences in Baghdad. It will be no surprise that in five to 10 days they will be able to encircle all our positions in Baghdad.

“But they have to come into the city eventually,” he added.

Asked if he expected street fighting in Baghdad, he said: “Definitely.”

Ahmed said the conflict could drag on for months: “It could be decided in two months or even more.

“God willing, Baghdad will be impregnable. We will fight to the end and everywhere. History will record how well Iraqis performed in defence of their capital.”

He added: “The enemy must come inside Baghdad, and that will be its grave.

“We feel that this war must be prolonged so the enemy pays a high price,” he said.

Shortly after he spoke, massive explosions rocked central Baghdad, sending smoke spiralling skyward in what appeared to be some of the strongest blasts felt in the city in days.

Explosions shook the capital near the Old Palace compound on the west bank of the Tigris River, not far from some of the buildings hit last week.

Other strong explosions followed, some to the southwest of the city.

There also was bombing in the Mosul area in northern Iraq.

In Washington, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested that US forces might lay siege to the capital and hope anti-Saddam Hussein citizens rise up against the government, smoothing the way for an American push into the city.

Mr Rumsfeld also said the coalition would accept nothing short of total victory.

“There isn’t going to be a ceasefire,” Mr Rumsfeld told the Senate Appropriations defence subcommittee.

Asked what American ground troops would do once they reached Baghdad, Mr Rumsfeld answered by alluding to what is happening at Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city.

British forces there have laid siege, hoping for a successful uprising by the city’s Shiites.

Mr Rumsfeld noted that both Basra and Baghdad have large Shiite populations. “And they are not terribly favourable to the regime,” Mr Rumsfeld said.

Mr Rumsfeld did not say how long General Tommy Franks, the war commander, would wait before launching the final attack on Baghdad.

But he acknowledged: “I think it’s only reasonable to expect that it will require the coalition forces moving through some Republican Guard units and destroying them or capturing them before you’ll see the crumbling of the regime.”

The possibility of the war stretching on longer than had been widely expected was acknowledged by Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George Bush, who vowed to hound Saddam Hussein for “as long as it takes” to drive him from power.

Mr Blair, speaking following two days of talks with President Bush at his Camp David retreat in Maryland, refused to be drawn on suggestions that the war could last months.