US troops move in as Saddam's fighters flee Mosul

American forces advanced into Iraq’s third city today, as the coalition continued to seize control across the north of the country.

Fighters loyal to Saddam Hussein reportedly abandoned Mosul and American Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said US troops were entering the city.

But in Baghdad the dangers faced by American troops were highlighted violently when at least four soldiers manning a checkpoint were seriously injured in a suicide bomb attack.

There were reports that at least one soldier died in the attack near the Palestine Hotel last night, but Central Command in Qatar was unable to confirm this.

Despite the toppling of Saddam, fighters still loyal to his regime continued to skirmish with US troops in the capital.

Overnight coalition warplanes bombed an Iraqi intelligence site occupied by Saddam’s half-brother and close advisor, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti.

Central Command said six satellite-guided bombs were launched at a building near Ramadi, about 60 miles west of Baghdad.

Al-Tikriti was allegedly the chief organiser of a clandestine group of companies handling the Iraqi leader’s wealth and was chief of Saddam’s secret police in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, tests were reportedly being carried out on a suspected Iraqi mobile biological weapons laboratory hidden in an air-conditioned truck.

The truck driver fled from Marines who found concealed equipment typical of a mobile bioweapons lab, including open jars and containers, according to a Fox News reporter embedded with the unit.

In the north, US forces were now “in the process of moving into Mosul“, said Mr Rumsfeld.

“To my knowledge, at last hearing, it’s an orderly process and the forces that are entering are being welcomed by the people,” he added.

America sought to reassure Turkey, which reacted angrily when Kurdish fighters entered the nearby oil-rich city of Kirkuk yesterday, against American wishes.

The advance of the Kurds has created a potential powder keg in the region, with Turkey determined to prevent them gaining too much power.

It is feared that Turkey could send troops into Iraq to deal with Kurdish peshmerga fighters. Turkish military observers are already being sent to Kirkuk.

Kurdish leaders have now pledged not to prematurely enter Mosul – the north’s largest city – and were reported to have promised to hand Kirkuk over to American forces.

Late yesterday the strategic northern city of Khaneqin was captured without a fight.

Kurdish and US soldiers moved into Khaneqin and occupied major government buildings. But US forces on the streets of Baghdad continued to come under attack.

Captain Joe Plenzler, a Marines spokesman in Baghdad, confirmed that four soldiers were injured by a suicide bomber last night.

“We have security, but nothing is foolproof,” he said.

Hours earlier, a prominent Shia spiritual leader was assassinated at a mosque in the holy city of Najaf.

Abdul Majid al-Khoei was shot and then hacked to death at the Imam Ali Mosque, one of the holiest shrines for Shiite Muslims in Iraq, his London-based al-Khoei Foundation said.

Majid, who recently returned from exile in the UK, was the son of the Grand Ayatollah al-Khoei, the spiritual leader of Shiites in Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War.

Tony Blair said he was “saddened and appalled” by the killing.

The assassination was just one indication of the dangerous power vacuum that is developing in Iraq.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for the restoration of law and order in Iraq as soon as possible.

Mr Blair and US president George Bush spoke directly to the Iraqi people on a new television station called “Towards Freedom TV“, broadcast from a US C-130 Hercules aircraft.

Mr Blair said the regime was collapsing, adding: “The years of brutality, oppression and fear are coming to an end, a new and better future beckons for the people of Iraq. The money from Iraqi oil will be yours.”

President Bush added: “We will not stop until Saddam’s corrupt gang is gone.”

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said an interim American authority would be set up in southern Iraq within days.

Meanwhile, Allied warplanes and special forces were also targeting Tikrit, Saddam’s birthplace and stronghold north west of Baghdad.

Air strikes against Republican Guard targets were launched yesterday to “soften up” defences before ground troops moved in. The US 4th Infantry Division was expected to advance on the city from Kuwait.

But military officials refused to confirm suggestions that the US may seek to end hostilities quickly by using the 21,000lb so-called MOAB, the “mother of all bombs”, at Tikrit.

Leading regime figures have vanished and Allied officials believe they may have tried to get to the Syrian border or Tikrit, although the road to Tikrit from Baghdad is dotted with special forces checkpoints.

In western Iraq, near Syria, US forces were involved in intense fighting around the border town of al-Qaim.

In the capital, US troops were engaged in fierce firefights in the north central area around a palace, a mosque and the home of a leading regime official.

One marine was killed and up to 20 wounded in the skirmishing around the Imam Mosque and Az Amihyah Palace.

US soldiers targeted the area after a tip-off that a leadership meeting was being planned.

Despite the pockets of resistance Major General Buford Blount, commander of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, said: “The end of the combat phase is days away.”

Coalition forces are now covering 60% of Iraq and have completely encircled Baghdad, according to military officials.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned the human impact of the war could last for many years.

And with the future rule of Iraq still uncertain the man tipped as a possible leader warned there was “no room” for the United States in a post-war interim authority in Baghdad.

Ahmed Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress, said he hoped there would be full elections held in Iraq within two years.

Until then the interim authority must be formed by the Iraqi people, he said.