Baghdad crowds 'welcome marines'

Jubilant crowds welcomed US Marines in eastern Baghdad today as Saddam’s reign appeared to be ending.

And the centre of the capital was eerily quiet, with regime officials melting away and little evidence of any fighting.

BBC correspondent Rageh Omaar said there were “dramatic reports” coming in from the east of the city.

“There is looting of government stores, people going out into the streets without seemingly any fear, chanting anti-government slogans.

“Really government control has ebbed away,” he said.

There were reports of no police on the streets of the city.

Allied forces tightened their grip on the city today and made further inroads in the north and south of the country as uncertainty continued over the fate of Saddam Hussein.

US troops entered Baghdad from the north for the first time and US Marines moved deeper into the city from the east.

The jubilant scenes were in Saddam City, a poor Shiite district in the east of the capital, where Marines were clapped and cheered, according to reports.

Iraq’s Shiites have suffered persecution at the hands of Saddam’s regime.