U.S. convoy streams over captured Tigris bridge

Reuters | 4/03/03 | Matthew Green

[kattracks]

U.S. convoy streams over captured Tigris bridge

By Matthew Green

WEST OF KUT, Iraq, April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. military trucks rumbled across a large, concrete bridge over the Tigris river west of the city of Kut on Thursday after Iraqi troops fled their posts nearby with barely a fight.

The convoy's orders: "Get to Baghdad as quickly as possible," officers told this Reuters correspondent as troops tightened their grip around Kut, about 170 km (105 miles) southeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Officers said U.S. Marines had launched a two-pronged attack on Kut on Thursday morning.

"They are pretty much encircling al Kut now," said Captain John Brooks of the U.S. Marine 1st Tank Battalion. "They should be wrapped up within a couple of days."

Control of the Kut area is important because it includes a key bridge across the Tigris and a major highway leading to Baghdad, the main prize in the U.S. and British campaign to overthrow President Saddam Hussein.

U.S. Marines near the bridge fired artillery shells with a range of more than 40 km (25 miles).

Officers did not say what the target was, but acknowledged it could be Kut. Reuters correspondent Sean Maguire, who was east of Kut, confirmed the city was under bombardment as U.S. forces consolidated their hold on the area.

Saddam praised the defenders in and around Kut in a message read out on Iraqi state television on Thursday.

"We take pride in your fighting and your great resistance, so that everyone of faith can take pride in you," said the message, read out by Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf.

As trucks and Humvee jeeps rolled by, an infantry unit of the First Marine Division with a dozen tracked armoured vehicles and several tanks guarded the bridge over the Tigris.

Two T-55 tanks and several burnt out trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns could be seen on the southern side.

On the northern side, Marines discovered an abandoned Iraqi troop position and recovered about six 120 mm mortar tubes.

Personal belongings of the Iraqi forces, including gas masks and blankets, lay scattered in a palm grove where they had dug trenches.

There were no sign of bodies or of recent fighting.

Officers said other Marines were advancing towards Baghdad. Other military sources said U.S. forces had thrust north to within 10 km (six miles) of Baghdad's southern limit on Thursday.

04/03/03 08:04 ET

[syriacus]

The convoy's orders: "Get to Baghdad as quickly as possible," officers told this Reuters correspondent as troops tightened their grip around Kut, about 170 km (105 miles) southeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Has Arnett put out a false report that the Americans are heading away from Baghdad, yet?

Or is he saving that news for his historical fiction account of the war?

[goldstategop]

We're already in the Baghdad suburbs. This report is already out of date.

[txzman]

No - the 1st Marines are working their way * through * the towns, instead of bypassing them, according to MSNBC and Fox. They are farther behind than the 3rd ID.

I heard Greg Kelly last night on Fox saying that the 3rd ID was doing a planned flanking attack against the Republican Guard from the west.

[m1911]

Another captured bridge. Curiouser and curiouser it gets. If there was any attempt at concerted defense, as of the first weekend of the war there would have been NO bridges left over the Euphrates and as of last weekend there would have been NO bridges over the Tigris. This is just bizarre.