Silhouette

Issue date: 3/27/03 Section: News Digest

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. President George W. Bush speaks to military officials during a visit to the Pentagon Tuesday, March 25, 2003. Standing by Bush are Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, left, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. KRT WIRESERVICE

NASARIYAH, IRAQ - Allied Forces pushed to within 100 miles of Baghdad Sunday, but saw the first Americans captured by Iraqi forces and faced stiffening resistance.

Fighting continued along the front lines of American advances, and also behind them as fast- moving U.S. and British forces encountered unexpectedly sharp resistance in several towns and river crossings they'd seemed to control.

The biggest battle of the war so far took place Sunday at the southern Iraqi town of Nasiriyah a day after much of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division rolled through. On a day when bad news threatened to overshadow good news of allied advances, President Bush and his top military advisers all warned that more tough days lie ahead.

Iraqi forces captured at least 12 Americans and Iraqi television later aired videotapes of dead and captive soldiers. Two British fliers were killed when an American Patriot missile battery mistakenly shot down their Tornado attack jet.

At Nasiriyah, Marines fought through the day against dug-in defenders, believed to be Iraqi Fedayeen, a paramilitary force of Baath Party enforcers. The Marines suffered about 60 casualties, with as many as nine killed, according to U.S. officials.

U.S. officials denied Iraqi claims that an allied warplane had been shot down over Baghdad.

But hopes for widespread surrender by Iraqi commanders faded as U.S. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, conceded that the Iraqis, while destined to fail, "are not a beaten force."

"Those who think this is going to go on for some time are right," Myers said during an appearance on ABC's "This Week" program. "The hardest part is yet to come. We expected the reaction we've gotten so far. The future will be a little bit tougher."

In a troubling new tactic, Iraqis used ruses to get close to allied forces and attack them, U.S. commanders said.

In one encounter, Iraqis appeared to be surrendering under a white flag before opening fire. In another, they acted as though they were civilians welcoming allied forces before attacking instead.

"Today was a tough day of fighting for the coalition," said U.S. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks at the Central Command headquarters in Doha, Qatar. "But we continue our attack to remove the regime and to destroy the forces supporting it.

President Bush, returning to the White House from the presidential retreat at Camp David, said he was pleased with the progress and noted that it was sufficient enough that humanitarian aid would soon start flowing to Iraq.

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