Analysis: Northern battles

By Gary Eason
BBC News Online

Kurds have done the bulk of the fighting against Iraqis in the north

The focus of the war in Iraq is switching to the part of the country north of Baghdad.

Early signs are that the north will now fall as quickly as the south, but there are - or were - significant numbers of Iraqi troops there.

Military analyst Anthony Cordesman of the Washington DC-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies said: "One of the great mysteries of the war is why Saddam left so many forces in place rather than rushed them south the moment it was clear the 4th US Army Infantry Division was not coming through Turkey."

The city of Kirkuk, centre of the biggest oil field in Iraq, was the headquarters of the Iraqi army's 1st Corps.

Key locations - shaded area is the pre-war Kurdish zone

This had three infantry divisions and a mechanised division - nominally more than 30,000 men - in the area.

It fell early on Thursday to Kurdish fighters without a battle.

Reporters in Kirkuk say people there said the Iraqi army left in trucks early on Thursday morning, or just laid down their weapons.

BBC correspondent John Simpson said he had been told that the coalition had intended to attack Kirkuk on Saturday but - acting on their own initiative - Kurdish special forces went into the city on Wednesday night and started the downfall.

The US special forces then had to move rapidly on Thursday to establish a presence there, once they realised what had happened.

US special forces are working with the Kurdish fighters

When US Central Command's director of operations, Major General Gene Renuart, was asked about Kirkuk at a briefing on Thursday, he stressed that the US special forces would be in command of operations.

Some elements of an Iraqi division to the south of Kirkuk were said to be fighting fiercely but were being pounded by US B-52 bombers.

And as elsewhere across Iraq, the coalition forces can call on considerable air power - either land-based attack aircraft in the Gulf or beyond, or carrier-based fighter-bombers.

They do not however appear to have any attack helicopters with them.

Republican guard

A Central Command spokesman, Lieutenant Mark Kitchens, said: "Elements of the Republican Guard forces at this time are repositioning themselves, beginning to coalesce a little bit and form composite units.

"We are engaging those actively via air strikes, anywhere from Mosul to Tikrit and along the Green Line."

The so-called Green Line marks the edge of the Kurdish autonomous area in north-east Iraq.

Tikrit is the home town of Saddam Hussein and a centre for those who have benefited most from his rule.

The Republican Guard's remaining Adnan division - not regarded as the best fighting force - has its headquarters there.

Kurdish fighters also moved into the oil-producing city of Khaneqin, close to the Iranian border north-east of Baghdad.

There were also another three Iraqi infantry divisions and one mechanised - making up the 5th Corps - with headquarters in Mosul.

This corps formally surrendered on Friday.

Coalition forces

On the coalition side, there are no significant forces in the area of Tikrit.

The bulk of what the coalition has in the north has been from the US 10th Special Forces Group - an airborne force - working alongside the Kurds in "packets" of about a dozen or 18 special forces with 120 to 150 Kurdish troops.

The Kurdish fighters, mostly loyal to the two main political groups, the KDP and the PUK, are thought to number about 60,000 in total.

It was the PUK who took Kirkuk.

Even the giant C-17 transporter can carry only one Abrams tank

They are now supplemented by at least 1,000 troops from the US 173rd Airborne Brigade, which went into Bashur Airfield north of Irbil last week.

Some Abrams tanks and armoured personnel carriers have also been flown in on C-17 transport aircraft.

There is also an undisclosed number of UK special forces in northern Iraq.

US Central Command says special forces have been continuing operations around the Haditha Dam, north-west of Baghdad, which they seized last week.

They have also been reinforced by tanks and soldiers from the US 1st Infantry Division, flown in from Germany on C-17s - probably through the airbase to the south-west of there known as H1.

Foreign fighters

In the area around Qaim on the border with Syria, coalition special forces have been fighting "substantial" Iraqi forces which include elements of the Special Republican Guard.

"We have continued to conduct unconventional warfare direct-action missions and air strikes against those forces," said General Renuart.

They were also continuing the "preventive medicine" hunt for surface-to-surface missiles, fearing they might be used against neighbouring nations.

The special forces in the west had also been doing a "credible job" of deterring fighters from outside Iraq coming in to oppose the coalition, he said.

Muslims from other countries - perhaps numbering several thousand - have been involved in fighting in Iraq.

They include men from Afghanistan, the Balkans, Chechnya, Syria, Sudan, Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia