Dozens of Iraqis, mostly troops, were killed in a village near the airport in what residents said was a barrage of US artillery and rocket fire attacks. Iraq said it had captured five US tanks and one helicopter in the battle.

At least 16 loud explosions rocked the center of Baghdad in the early hours of Friday, the Muslim holy day, in what has become an almost routine nocturnal bombardment of the capital. Many hit presidential palaces belonging to Saddam.

About 20 explosions were also heard south of the city, along with artillery fire. Saddam International Airport is about 12 miles to the southwest.

It's said the air raids were intense and that flashes could be seen in central Baghdad from the vicinity of the airport.

Iraqi officials have denied that the US-led invasion is closing in on Baghdad, a sprawling city of five million.

US television's ABC News said that the airport had already been secured.

But US military sources told this reporter, traveling with the 3rd Infantry Division, their troops were using tanks and other armored vehicles against Iraqis dug in at the airport.

The US forces also found a network of tunnels beneath the airport, apparently stretching back to the Tigris River.

CNN reported Iraqi officials were urging residents to go and help defend the airport from the invaders. This report could not be immediately confirmed.

Dead Bodies

Dozens of Iraqis, mostly soldiers, were killed in the village of Furat between the airport and the city center. Iraqi officials put the total death toll in and around the village at 83, but this could not be independently confirmed.

There were more than 120 wounded.

Iraqi officials said their forces captured five US tanks, one helicopter and either seized or killed their crews during fighting by the village of Radhwaniyah near the airport.

Baghdad has been without electricity since Thursday evening, though the US military said the blackout was not a result of its bombing raids.

US and British leaders have said that the hardest part of the campaign may be to secure Baghdad, where the invaders could be sucked into bloody street-by-street fighting where the advantage of hi-tech weaponry would be blunted.

Iraqi satellite television showed footage on Thursday evening of Saddam, chairing a meeting of leaders including Iraq's vice-president and ministers of defense and irrigation. It was not clear when the film was made.

President Bush accuses Saddam of concealing biological and chemical weapons. Saddam denies having such arms.

Iraq did not use the weapons on troops at the airport despite US speculation that he had drawn a "red line" around the capital within which he would use chemical weapons.

The advance puts Baghdad easily within the range of many ground-based rockets and guns brought by US troops from Kuwait. Multi-launch rocket system batteries with the 3rd Infantry, for instance, have a range of 75 miles.

(China Daily April 4, 2003)