South China Morning Post war briefs

SCMP.comThursday, March 27, 2003

US seizes northern Iraq airfield; civilians killed

US paratroopers took control of a key airfield in northern Iraq early on Thursday (HK time), and at least 15 Iraqi civilians were killed in a Baghdad street during another intense bombardment.

Iraqi armoured convoy pours south from Basra

American-led forces battled a column of Iraqi tanks and armoured personnel carriers south of the Iraq's second city of Basra early on Thursday (HK time), a British military spokesman said.

The first relief convoy gets through

The first major relief convoy arrived in Iraq during a sandstorm yesterday. It did so as coalition forces struggled to clear the way for more aid shipments, using dolphins to remove mines from waterways and hunting Iraqi fighters around the port of Umm Qasr.

Marines traverse a highway of death

Marines pushing north towards Baghdad left behind a trail of death yesterday as they fought off sporadic Iraqi attacks along the way.

Secrecy surrounds Basra's fate after uprising reported

The fate of Iraq's southern city of Basra was cloaked in secrecy last night amid conflicting claims of an uprising by dominant Shi'ites long oppressed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime, as British forces fought on the outskirts of the besieged city.

Rumsfeld fends off critics of battle plans

The Bush administration has defended itself against accusations that it underestimated the might and will of the Iraqi military, amid some of the fiercest fighting of the week-long war.

US television networks losing the fight against biased coverage

Media-watchers on both sides of the war have declared the Americans the losers. Embedded journalists and hi-tech equipment have so far not been able to deflect accusations that US television networks are presenting biased coverage.