The Houston Chronicle April 06, 2003
War In Iraq: Day 18
As U.S. troops dashed into Baghdad on Saturday, coalition warplanes began flying over Baghdad nonstop. Two U.S. Marine pilots were killed when their Super Cobra attack helicopter crashed in central Iraq. In one close-quarters skirmish, Marines with bayonets battled non-Iraqi Arab fighters in a marsh on the southern edge of Baghdad.
The convoy of armored vehicles from the 3rd Infantry Division rolled into southwestern Baghdad, destroying targets and running into nests of intense resistance before leaving the city. On the airport road, Iraqi troops posed for Iraqi photographers standing atop what they said were U.S. armored personnel carriers destroyed in battle Friday and Saturday.
A bomb hit central Baghdad, about 100 yards from a hotel where Iraq's Information Ministry had been briefing international journalists.
U.S. soldiers swept a Republican Guard base about 10 miles north of Al Hillah on Highway 8, the third such base overrun by the U.S. Army with little or no resistance.
Coalition aircraft struck the Basra residence of Saddam's cousin, Gen. Ali Hassan al-Majid, Central Command said. Also known as "Chemical Ali," he is commander of Iraq's southern forces.
GRAPHIC: Map: Site of ancient "Round City" of Baghdad; Houston Chronicle, Sources: National Imagery and Mapping Agency; GlobalSecurity.org; Associated Press
Copyright © 2003, The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
