Large Clouds of Smoke Over the Iraqi Presidential Palace - 2003-04-01

Large clouds of smoke rose over the Iraqi presidential palace as massive explosions shook central Baghdad. Simultaneously, U.S. ground forces conducted exploratory attacks on their way into the Iraqi capital from the south to test the resistance of the Iraqi Republican Guard defending the capital. Coalition officials claim that the Iraqi Republican Guard has been weakened by U.S. and British airstrikes. The coalition forces targeted the Iraqi Ministry of Information and units of the Republican Guard around Baghdad. In southern Iraq, American soldiers fired on a truck that ignored a stop order at a checkpoint near Najaf, killing seven women and children. U.S. soldiers also engaged in fierce battles in southern Iraq to advance into the city of Hindiyah, about eighty kilometers south of Baghdad. Meanwhile, Baghdad television showed images of Saddam Hussein and his sons, Uday and Qusay, though it was unclear when they were taken. In clashes near Hindiyah and other major southern Iraqi cities, including Basra, over one hundred Iraqi fighters were killed, and dozens who claimed to be members of the Republican Guard were captured. Coalition officials reported at least one American soldier was killed in these battles. In the battle for Basra, British Royal Marines inflicted heavy casualties on Iraqi forces while suffering one fatality themselves. Hundreds of Basra residents have fled the city. U.S. officials stated that precision strikes using guided munitions were aimed at military targets inside and around Baghdad to eliminate command and control centers of the regime, not to destroy the city's infrastructure. Meanwhile, Iraqi officials warned the U.S. and Britain that if their forces did not surrender to Iraqi forces, they would face total slaughter.