Eyewitness: Thrust into Baghdad

Eyewitness: Thrust into Baghdad

The battle has reached the heart of Baghdad

BBC correspondents in Baghdad have sighted for the first time US tanks and troops battling their way into the Iraqi capital.

After weeks of working under Iraqi Government press restrictions, our correspondents, like the Baghdad residents around them, could see for themselves full-scale war under way with tanks in view and even Americans troops taking prisoners under the eyes of the world's cameras in government-held areas of the city.

For Iraqis the situation in the city was as confused on Monday morning as for anyone watching the news reports abroad, Paul Wood reported.

In a bizarre situation, normal traffic was circulating on the streets as US armoured cars crept along the western bank of the River Tigris and the air was rent with gunfire and stank of smoke.

Perhaps, our correspondent wondered, the people of Baghdad were thinking it was just more of the same old air strikes?

There was no doubt about it now, Paul Wood said, the battle really had come to the heart of Baghdad.

Apocalyptic

Whether Monday's action was another incursion or something more lasting, Rageh Omaar said, it was an almighty battle, with artillery and small-arms fire so heavy and frequent that it almost sounded like an ammunition store going off.

Troops are on the streets of the capital

The scene was almost apocalyptic, with plumes of black smoke shrouding the city, combining with unseasonably muggy weather in a complete haze.

From his vantage-point, he saw utterly deserted streets, a solitary car moving on one of the busiest thoroughfares, Abu Nawas Street.

Yet one man was just ambling by, lazily, almost impervious to the dramatic and highly symbolic battle only streets away.

Surprise attack

Andrew Gilligan witnessed a fierce battle for control of the main presidential palace, just a few hundred yards away across the river.

As small arms and mortars opened up, an air defence position went up in flames and dozens of black-clad Iraqi soldiers ran away along the river banks.

The American attack appeared to have taken Iraqi defenders completely by surprise, with our correspondents spotting one man in his undergarments fleeing with the others.

But in line with the spirit of defiance at Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf's Monday press briefing, which came as machine-guns crackled in the background and warplanes roared overhead, our correspondents said their government minders were still firmly in place.

They were all still there, none had fled, and the message was that the Iraqis were still in control on the eastern bank of the river at least, Andrew Gilligan said.