US seizes key Baghdad buildings

US troops seized key buildings in the centre of Baghdad today, including a major presidential palace and the information ministry.

Reporters saw tanks roll into the heart of Baghdad on the western side of the Tigris River, which divides the city.

Meanwhile British commanders have warned that the battle for Basra is not over despite forces taking control of large swathes of Iraq’s second city.

Desert Rats and Royal Marines launched two waves of attacks yesterday, taking control of sections of the city after two weeks poised on its outskirts.

But the price paid was the death of three British soldiers.

A British Ministry of Defence spokesman named one of the victims as Fusilier Kelan John Turrington, aged 18, a member of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

He is the youngest British soldier to have died in the conflict.