Al Jazeera

US troops suffer heavy losses in Baghdad fighting

Dakshin Murthy

Fighting raged in Iraq’s capital Baghdad on Sunday with United States-led forces meeting fierce resistance in their efforts to capture the city.
Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said troops killed 50 US soldiers and destroyed or damaged 16 US tanks close to Baghdad airport. Troops from the Republican Guard are still tightening the noose around US troops in the area surrounding the airport, he said.
Journalists in the area reported seeing a destroyed US Abrams tank on a main highway south out of Baghdad. Iraqi officers said five US soldiers had been killed in a battle at the scene. Dozens of Iraqi civilians crowded around the journalists taken to the scene, shouting "Down, down Bush" and "Long live Saddam Hussein".

CNN
U.S. Army: Baghdad is surrounded
Possible friendly fire incidents investigated
Sunday, April 6, 2003 Posted: 11:02 AM EDT (1502 GMT)
NEAR BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Marines and Army forces control all roads into and out of Baghdad, encircling the Iraqi capital, a high-ranking senior Army officer said Sunday.

Forces from the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division made reconnaissance forays into Baghdad for the second day Sunday and faced sporadic resistance, said CNN Correspondent Walter Rodgers, who is embedded with the division's 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry. (On the Scene)

U.S. Central Command said more than 2,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed or wounded Saturday when coalition forces swept through Baghdad on initial reconnaissance missions.