Key developments in the war against Iraq

Key developments in the war against Iraq.

* US troops shot dead at least seven Iraqi civilians – some of them children - in a van at a checkpoint in southern Iraq when the driver did not stop as ordered, US Central Command said. It said initial reports indicated the soldiers followed the rules of engagement to protect themselves.

* US-led troops fought pitched battles with the Republican Guard in Hindiyah, 50 miles from Baghdad, and at least 35 Iraqis were killed and several dozen others captured. Coalition warplanes pounded the capital and dozens of Iraqi positions around it.

* Six explosions in rapid succession shook central Baghdad, sending smoke billowing from the Old Palace presidential compound and bathing the sky in an orange glow. The blasts were some of the strongest since the war began, and a steady rumbling of explosions continued south of the capital early today - probably against Republican Guard positions.

* Iraq’s foreign minister, Naji Sabri, said Iraqi forces would defeat American and British forces, and only surrender would save coalition troops from the “holocaust”. More than 5,000 Arabs have come to Iraq to help attack the invaders, he said.

* Iraqi television aired footage of Saddam Hussein with sons Uday and Qusai at a meeting of top military commanders. There was no way of determining when the video was shot.

* The Pentagon said US and British air strikes have caused “a very significant weakening” of Iraqi forces, and Iraqi commanders are moving Republican Guard troops around to shore up their strength.

* The 82nd Airborne Division killed about 100 “regime terror squad members” and captured about 50 prisoners at the Shiite holy city of Najaf and another town, according to US Central Command.

* Coalition commanders said a US-led assault on a compound controlled by an extremist Islamic group turned up a list of names of suspected militants living in the United States and what may be the strongest evidence yet linking the group to al-Qaida.

* In northern Iraq, US aircraft pounded Iraqi positions near Kalak, aiding Kurdish fighters as they seized territory from Saddam Hussein’s fleeing troops.

* British commandos destroyed Iraqi tanks and seized equipment in a suburb of Basra. A Royal Marine was killed and the Iraqis suffered a “large number of casualties,” the British said.

* Arab and Islamic nations issued a statement saying they would push for adoption of a resolution in the UN General Assembly against the US-led war in Iraq. The statement came from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference Group, which has 57 member nations.

* President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt warned that a drawn-out war in Iraq will lead to an increase in Islamic militancy throughout the world – creating “100 (Osama) bin Ladens”.

* US television network NBC fired journalist Peter Arnett after he gave an interview to state-run Iraqi TV saying the US-led coalition’s first war plan had failed because of Iraq’s resistance.

* The first UN humanitarian aid, a few truckloads of food and water, trickled across Iraq’s borders from Turkey and Kuwait, UN agencies reported yesterday.

* Australia said it will replace two of its frigates in the Persian Gulf with one, scaling down its naval involvement in the Iraqi conflict.