US troops holding positions in the western half of Baghdad today began an assault on Iraqi units guarding a crossing to the east, and in the process fired a tank shell at a hotel housing the foreign media.
Heavy machine-gunfire and the buzz of aircraft broke the silence of an uncharacteristically quiet night, and silent, yellow flares illuminated a sky even blacker from Baghdad’s power cut.
In a dramatic move, two US Abrams tanks drove to the middle of Jumhuriya bridge, a main Baghdad artery, at 9.30 am local time (0630 BST) and opened fire before reversing and taking up a position on its western end.
Two hours later a lone tank crossed the river Tigris into the eastern half of Baghdad as US planes roared overhead.
The Palestine hotel, the building where much of the foreign media in Baghdad is based, then came under tank fire and the balconyon the 14th floor was hit.
David Chater of Sky News, who was in the hotel, said he saw a tank barrel aiming in his direction just before the blast hit.
”A lot of us feel very vulnerable now. How can we continue doing this if US tanks are targeting western journalists,” he said.
Al-Jazeera television, who had earlier lost a cameraman, Tareq Ayoub, in a US bombing raid, showed frightened reporters running with flak vests in the hotel’s corridors. Footage showed colleagues carrying the wounded to the lift down to the lobby.
US troops said snipers were shooting at them from the building
A Reuters reporter, photographer, technician and television cameraman were taken to hospital. The extent of their injuries was not immediately clear.
Areas of western Baghdad not held by US troops – who were mainly based in an area around a presidential palace compound on the other side of the river to the Palestine – also came under air and artillery attack.
Smoke and fires were seen pouring from the area around the Information Ministry, and US tanks later moved towards government buildings in central Iraq.
US forces were estimated to have moved two miles since dawn, taking them into the nerve centre of Saddam Hussein’s administration housing most of Iraq’s ministries and other official buildings.
Iraq’s information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, today said Iraqi forces would defeat the US invaders.
”They are going to surrender or be burned in their tanks. Baghdad is bracing to pummel the invaders,” he told reporters.
On the eastern edge of the city, US marines spent the night scouring foxholes, trenches and what appeared to be bunkers dug under roads to make sure the area was area was free of Iraqi soldiers.
Saddam targeted in bombing raid
US central command in Qatar today revealed it bombed an upmarket residential area of Baghdad yesterday where President Saddam and his aides were believed to be meeting.
At least three buildings were destroyed in the attack on the district of al-Mansour in western Baghdad, which blasted an18-metre-deep crater, ripped orange trees from their roots and left a heap of concrete, mangled iron rods and shredded furniture and clothes.
Rescue workers looking in the rubble for victims said two bodies had been recovered and the death toll could be as high as 14.
Residents standing around the rubble said shrapnel killed victims as far as 200 metres away.
A single B-1B bomber dropped four ”bunker-busting” bombs on the district after US military intelligence received a tip off that President Saddam, his sons Uday and Qusay and other Iraqi leaders might be meeting there, US military officials said.
”A leadership target was hit very hard,” said Marine Major Brad Bartelt.
He said he could not comment on casualties or say how long it would take to determine the damage.
Those close to President Saddam have said the Iraqi leader is so obsessed with security that very few people would know about his movements. He maintains dozens of residences and uses doubles to keep people guessing.
Cameraman killed as al-Jazeera office bombed
An al-Jazeera cameraman has died and another of the Arabic-language news channel’s journalists is missing after a coalition bombing raid hit its Baghdad office.
The office of another Arabic news network, Abu Dhabi TV, wa also hit, according to reports on the BBC and al-Jazeera.
Al-Jazeera cameraman Tareq Ayoub died from injuries sustained in the attack, the channel announced today.
The Qatar-based station described him as ”martyr of duty” and a ”dear and loyal colleague”.
Meanwhile, Iraq’s domestic state television today went off the air in Baghdad.
Earlier, it had failed to broadcast a morning news bulletin and instead showed only old footage of President Saddam being cheered at rallies and played patriotic songs.
– Guardian Unlimited Â