Allies breach Saddam's 'red line'

The war in Iraq entered a critical new phase last night as US Marines crossed Saddam Hussein's defensive "red line" outside Baghdad, skirmishing with Republican Guard units in preparation for an all-out assault on the capital.

In the biggest air attack yet on what military sources said were control and command centres in Baghdad, B–1, B-2 and B-52 planes combined in a joint bombardment for the first time in US military history. The palace of Qusay Hussein, son of President Saddam, was hit at least twice in bombing raids on central areas of the city. Two thousand sorties in all were flown in the heaviest bombardment of the war so far.

American and British planes launched the most ferocious of a series of attacks on the Republican Guard divisions south of Baghdad. The main target was the Medina Division south-west of the city.

The ground contacts with the Medina Division were described by the US military as "skirmishing" before the main battle for the city.

"We are targeting them, we are destroying a number of them, we are taking away their ability to fight," said the Allies' deputy director of operations, Brigadier General Vince Brooks, at US Central Command in Qatar.

The Republican Guards are identified by red triangle shoulder patches, and their defensive position is known as the "red line" by the Iraqi authorities.

American forces appeared last night to have taken control of Hindiyah, between the holy city of Karbala and the ruins of ancient Babylon, 50 miles from Baghdad.

Up to 35 Iraqi troops were killed in fierce fighting on the banks of the Euphrates as US Marines continued to establish a front line from which to launch a ground assault on the Iraqi capital.

Although the fighting at Hindiyah – in which American forces captured dozens of Iraqi prisoners – was the closest yet to Baghdad, a senior military officer at Central Command warned that the real battle of Baghdad was still to come.

Sources said the fighting was still the result of probing patrols designed to test the enemy's strengths and weaknesses. "This is the first time we have engaged the Republican Guard. There have been some serious skirmishes and some fierce fighting," said a military spokesman. "Patrols are moving forward and going in, finding out where they are strong and weak. It is quite frankly designed to keep the Republican Guard on their toes. This is not yet the main battle."

Another senior officer said the US was prepared to pay "a very high price" in terms of casualties to capture the Iraqi capital, adding that the battles to come would perhaps inflict American casualties on the scale of the Second World War.

President George Bush, speaking in Philadelphia, said: "Day by day we are moving closer to Baghdad." However his opponents remained defiant. Iraqi television yesterday showed footage of Saddam Hussein alongside his two sons.

The US army encircled the Shia holy city of Najaf, reportedly killing about 100 paramilitary fighters and capturing about 50 Iraqis.

Allied forces were using the captured airfield at Tallil, south-west of Nasiriyah, as a forward base for RAF Tornados and both British and American Harriers which took part in yesterday's bombardment.

Prisoners taken in Hindiyah told the Americans they belonged to the Republican Guard's Nebuchadnezzar Brigade, based in President Saddam's home area of Tikrit, north of Baghdad. They were wearing triangular insignia that denotes a member of the Republican Guard.

A US officer said: "Things are so bad for [Iraqi units in the south] that they have decided they have to bring in this valuable unit forward to step up the defence."

In the fighting at Hindiyah, an armoured unit of the 3rd Infantry Division rolled into the town of 80,000 at dawn and was met by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades from Iraqis hiding behind hedges and walls. One US soldier was wounded in the leg.

The Americans took up positions in abandoned bunkers on the south-east side of a bridge across the Euphrates, and exchanged fire with Iraqis on the other side. Iraqi forces in civilian clothes with blue or red keffiyehs wrapped around their heads and faces scrambled between buildings, trying to advance on US troops.

The Pentagon said last night that 8,000 precision-guided bombs have been dropped since the war began – 3,000 of them since the weekend.