On
the west bank of the Tigris river where most Iraqi government buildings
are based, quiet had returned after a tense morning, enforced by
patrolling soldiers and other heavily armed men, according to Agence
France-Presse (AFP) correspondents.
Many
of them were seen heading toward Saddam International Airport on the
southwestern outskirts of the city, which U.S. forces announced they
captured Friday and now held "secure".
Iraqi
Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf had said earlier that
President Saddam Hussein's crack Republican Guard had driven invasion
forces out of the facility in a prelude to a final rout in the capital.
Navy
Captain Frank Thorp, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, said
earlier of the early-morning thrust into Baghdad: "This wasn't a
patrol - go in and come out.
"We
had the opportunity and we moved in," Thorp said. "It was done
in a deliberate way. When we had the opportunity we took it and moved
forward into the middle of the city."
The
city seemed strangely normal in the afternoon.
While
some Iraqi fighters equipped with automatic weapons and anti-tank rocket
launchers manned city intersections, others were less visible, holed up
in entrenched positions.
Soldiers
and elite Republican Guard members and militiamen were posted at a major
intersection leading out of the city but appeared as steely nerved as
ever.
In
the Dora-Yarmuk in the southwest of the city, there were traces of
combat earlier in the day, including blown-up cars and casings of heavy
machine guns where Iraqi armored tanks and anti-aircraft artillery had
been that morning.
Even
in the Al-Mamun district near the airport, motorists took to the roads
and no explosions were heard.
Saddam
Speaks Again
Meanwhile,
Saddam Hussein urged Iraqis to attack U.S. and British forces across the
country to relieve pressure on the besieged capital of Baghdad, in a
speech read on state television Saturday by al-Sahhaf.
"The
enemy has concentrated all its forces against Baghdad, which has
weakened its power in other parts of Iraq ... you must now weaken them,
deepen their wounds and deprive them of what they have taken of your
land," the minister quoted Saddam as saying.
Baghdad
Hospitals Strained
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Iraqi
forces gather to defend advancing invasion forces
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In Geneva, an International Red Cross medical team that visited four
Baghdad hospitals Friday saw several hundred wounded and dozens of dead
from bombing and fighting, a spokesman said Saturday, adding that the
facilities were under considerable strain.
"The
hospitals said they were stretched to their limits, particularly with
regards to staff," said International Committee of the Red Cross
spokesman Florian Westphal.
The
visit by ICRC officials took place before the latest heavy fighting in
and around Baghdad, which U.S. forces claimed they were entering
Saturday.
"Hospital
staff face a difficult choice when the security situation obliges them
to stay inside, between staying with their families or going to
work," said the spokesman.
The
hospitals visited were ill-prepared to cope with the current situation,
in particular with electricity cuts, and inadequate generators made it
difficult to carry out surgery, said Westphal.
Six
ICRC expatriate staff in Baghdad have been ordered to stay in their
office in the city, as the current fighting made it too dangerous to
move around, he said. Iraqi ICRC staff had for their part been told to
stay at home.
The
ICRC team had earlier provided the Al Yarmouk hospital in the city with
150 blankets and 50 "body bags" for corpses, Westphal said at
ICRC headquarters in Geneva.
