RUSSELL BOYCE / ASSOCIATED PRESS U.S. F/A-18s taxied under the spotlight at the base in Kuwait yesterday before departing for a bombing mission over Iraq. As sandstorms abated, Americans and British reported flying 1,500 missions. Explosions rocked Baghdad after nightfall in one of the strongest assaults in days, filling the sky with flames and thick smoke.

Fierce fighting on
road to Baghdad

Missile lands near Kuwaiti mall

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By David Espo
AP Special Correspondent

American-led forces dropped 1,000-pound bombs on Republican Guard units guarding the gates to Baghdad on Friday and battled for control of the strategic city of Nasiriyah. President Bush warned of "further sacrifice" ahead in the face of unexpectedly fierce fighting.

In anticipation of a push on Baghdad, F/A-18s attacked a Republican Guard fuel depot and missile facility south of the Iraqi capital, officials said. Hornets dropped 500-pound satellite-guided bombs on the fuel facility, while other planes hit the missile site with four, 1000-pound bunker-penetrating bombs.

Iraq said more than 50 civilians were killed when a bomb struck a crowded, open-air market in the capital and blamed the deaths on American and British invaders.

On the 10th day of Operation Iraqi Freedom, a British supply ship docked in the southern port city of Umm Qasr bearing tons of humanitarian supplies, and officials said fires at three of seven oil wells in the south had been extinguished.

At the same time, American officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saddam Hussein's troops have been spotted between U.S. and Iraqi lines wearing full chemical protection gear and unloading 50 gallon drums from trucks. The report reinforced concern that American and British troops might face chemical weapons.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sternly warned the Syrian government to cut off alleged shipments of night vision goggles and other military equipment to Iraq. "We consider such trafficking as hostile acts and will hold the Syrian government accountable," he said.

Syrian and Iraqi officials both ridiculed the charge.

As the number of Americans inside Iraq continued to swell, the 101st Airborne Division went into combat, apparently for the first time in the war. Two helicopters crashed on their return, but no further details were available.

Also, an explosion rocked downtown Kuwait after midnight Saturday. There was no immediate word on a cause or possible casualties.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Iraqi men fight for humanitarian aid being delivered today by Kuwaiti Red Crescent trucks, in Safwan in southern Iraq. British troops looked on as hundreds of people mobbed the trucks as soon as they arrived and fought over the boxes of supplies.

Buoyed by a second straight day of good weather, American and British warplanes bombed at will. Many warplanes took aim at the Medina Republican Guard division, defending the capital against American advance units. "They are continuing to soften up targets," said Capt. Dick Corpus aboard the USS Kitty Hawk. "We are very satisfied with the progress so far."

There was fresh bombing, as well, in cities near northern Iraqi oil fields that are a major objective of American forces.

Inside the capital, a large explosion struck early Saturday in the area near the Information Ministry.

But in the marketplace, crowds of mourners wailed and blood-soaked children's slippers sat on the street not far from a crater blasted into the ground.

Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said more than 50 people were killed, and charged that Americans and British were targeting civilians to avenge losses on the battlefield. "These are cowardly air raids," he said.

Overall, Iraq claims more than 4,000 civilians have been killed or wounded since the war began on March 19.

The combat flared as Bush and his administration officials walked a tightrope - insisting that the war was proceeding according to plan, yet preparing the country for more combat casualties.

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, used a color-coded map of Iraq to demonstrate to reporters that Saddam has lost control of 35 percent to 40 percent of his country.

At the White House a short while later, Bush forecast victory, yet added, "Fierce fighting currently under way will demand further courage and further sacrifice."

Nasiriyah and Basra provided two examples of the tougher-than-expected fighting Bush referred to, the first the site of some of the fiercest fighting of the war, the second a city of 1.3 million people encircled by British forces.

Marines and Iraqi forces exchanged tank and artillery fire in their continuing battle for Nasiriyah, a city of about 500,000 on the Euphrates River between the Kuwaiti border and Baghdad. Ground forces called in Cobra support helicopters, and loud explosions could be heard throughout the city.

Officials said four Marines were missing, in addition to eight others who haven't been seen since fighting in the area on Sunday.

In addition to the fighting with Iraqis, more than two dozen Marines were injured in a friendly fire incident in the battle earlier in the week. And in grim recognition of the continuing fighting, Marines have taken to calling the southern entrances to the city "Ambush Alley."

In Basra, closer to the Kuwaiti border, Iraqi forces said to be members of the paramilitary Fedayeen continued to resist British efforts to take control.

British military officials said Iraqi paramilitary forces fired mortars and machine guns on about 1,000 civilians trying to leave Basra, forcing them to return to the city. Lt. Cmdr. Emma Thomas, a British military spokeswoman, said an initial group of 1,000 made it out safely, and were given food and medical attention. She said the firing started when a second group of about the same size started fleeing.

British troops have encircled the city for days, but have been reluctant to enter for fear of becoming trapped in urban warfare.

Rumsfeld delivered his warning at the Pentagon, where he also cautioned Iran against sending members of the anti-Saddam Badr Corps into Iraq. He said they would be treated as combatants, and subject to U.S. military power.

With approaches to Umm Qasr finally cleared of Iraqi mines, a British ship docked with several hundred thousand pounds of water, rice, lentils, chick peas and other food supplies. The Sir Galahad was escorted by patrol boats and assault helicopters to guard against attacks.

Ten days into the war, an unusual skirmish broke out - pitting a three-star general against the Bush administration. One U.S. official with close ties to the White House said administration officials were angered by comments by Lt. Gen. William S. Wallace, the senior ground commander in the conflict.

Wallace told reporters Thursday that a longer-than-expected war seemed likely, in part because of unexpectedly tough resistance by forces loyal to Saddam.

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Missile fired at Kuwait City;
explosion rocks popular
shopping mall

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By Diana Elias
Associated Press

KUWAIT CITY -- A missile fell into the sea and exploded near a major shopping mall in Kuwait City early Saturday, but officials said it caused no injuries and little damage.

Police Brig. Ahmed al-Rujaid said the missile landed at about 1:45 a.m. (5:45 p.m. EST Friday) close to the Souq Sharq mall, a multilevel shopping center that's one of Kuwait's largest.

No air raid siren sounded before the explosion.

"There were no injuries and material damage is very small," al-Rujaid said.

Parts of the ceiling and walls littered the ground in a covered plaza in front of the mall after the explosion. Glass doors and windows were shattered and some doors were knocked off their hinges. Television images also showed smoke rising over the Kuwaiti skyline.

Souq Sharq is on the Kuwaiti seafront and includes a marina, shops and restaurants. The mall is about half a mile from Sief Palace, the official seat of the emir of Kuwait. The emir, Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, lives in Dasman palace, about two miles further away.

U.S. Patriot missile batteries guard Kuwait against missile attacks by neighboring Iraq. In Doha, Qatar, the U.S. Central Command said it was investigating the explosion but had no further information and could not confirm a missile attack.

It's the 13th missile fired at Kuwait since the U.S.-led military campaign to oust Iraq's Saddam Hussein began on March 20. None is believed to have carried chemical or biological warheads, and none has caused damage or injury. Several have been destroyed by Patriots.

On Thursday, civilian defense officials in Kuwait said a U.S. Patriot missile knocked down an Iraqi missile fired from southern Iraq. No debris was reported to have fallen on populated areas.

Air raid sirens have sounded repeatedly since the war began last week, cautioning the 2.3 million residents of this small, oil-rich state to take cover.

Four of the missile strikes were believed to involve Scuds - which Iraq also is banned from possessing. Two others were identified as Chinese-made surface-to-surface Silkworm missiles, Kuwait officials said.

Kuwait, a tiny oil-rich emirate just south of Iraq where U.S. and British forces have been massing for months, was a certain Iraqi target. Within hours of the first U.S. strike on Baghdad on Thursday, sirens blared throughout Kuwait City, sending jittery residents scrambling for bomb shelters, some carrying gas masks and chemical suits.