Iraq War 2003 Daily Developments

Key battlefield developments in Iraq during the last week: * Sunday April 6 Sweep into Baghdad North: A U.S. warplane accidentally bombs a convoy of Kurdish fighters and U.S. Special Forces troops, killing 18 and injuring 45 others. Central area: U.S. troops capture one of Saddam Hussein's palaces. U.S. soldiers and Marines surround Baghdad. South: British officials say Gen.

A prominent American antiwar activist arrived here Sunday to assist the defense team of Saddam Hussein when his trial resumes today, as reports surfaced of a plot to assassinate a top tribunal official. Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney general, was accompanied by Najib Nuaimi, a former Qatari justice minister. "Our plan is to go to court in Baghdad on Monday morning representing defense counsel as defense support," Clark told reporters before departing from Amman, Jordan.

Baghdad * U.S. bombs complex where Saddam Hussein and his sons are believed to be hiding. * U.S. forces advance into central Baghdad, occupying key structures and surrounding the Ministry of Information. * Two U.S. soldiers and two journalists are killed and 15 troops injured in an Iraqi attack on a field headquarters south of the city. * Two Marines are killed, many injured as U.S. troops cross Tigris River on east side of the city. * Iraqi forces fire on U.S.

U.S. and Iraqi forces pressed into the heart of Fallouja on Wednesday, chasing insurgents out of the city's battered northern neighborhoods and crossing a key highway into densely packed quarters to the south. After three days of combat in which as many as 600 rebels may have been killed, military officials estimated that U.S. and Iraqi troops loosely controlled about 70% of the longtime insurgent stronghold.

Iraqi forces killed as many as 17 U.S. soldiers and took at least five prisoners Sunday as U.S.-led forces encountered fierce resistance. Early today, American forces traded heavy artillery fire with Iraq's Republican Guard, apparently for the first time, and struck the capital from the air for the fifth straight night. Officials and fighters in Iraq took heart from U.S. and British setbacks and asserted that Iraq would prevail, even as some U.S. forces pushed to within 100 miles of Baghdad.

War briefing: latest strikes and developments * Airstrikes continued throughout the day, as shown in the map at right, with considerable activity in southern Iraq. Allied ground troops moved in from Kuwait, where part of a British assault brigade was involved in a cross-border skirmish with Iraqi troops. Allied forces appear to have captured the Iraqi seaport of Umm al Qasr. Latest developments * U.S.

A white Chevy Suburban with bullet holes in the windshield veered menacingly toward the Marine convoy rumbling down a sleepy country road. Capt. Jer Garcia got a look at the driver's eyes. "I knew instantly that this was not right and he was going to do something bad," Garcia, the company commander, recalled Wednesday. But there was no time to react. The suicide vehicle plowed into a seven-ton truck ferrying 18 Marines from Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.

The U.S. military announced the deaths of a Marine and a soldier in separate incidents in Iraq. Cpl. Brian Oliveira, 22, of Raynham, Mass., died Monday of injuries inflicted by enemy action in Al Anbar province, a Pentagon statement said. Oliveira was assigned to Camp Pendleton, Calif. In the other incident, a soldier with the Army's 13th Corps Support Command was killed and a second was wounded when a motorcycle blew up next to their convoy Wednesday near Balad, the U.S. military reported.

Six U.S. soldiers were reported killed in attacks here and in the northern city of Mosul as anxiety mounted over a feared wave of insurgent violence during the sacred Muslim month of Ramadan, which begins this week. A pair of roadside bombs in Baghdad killed four American soldiers late Tuesday and Wednesday, and a car bombing on a convoy in Mosul killed two and injured five, the military said. The names of the dead were withheld pending notification of their families. In all, 1,081 U.S.

The North: The allied presence in Mosul, Irbil and Kirkuk is reinforced by 173rd Airborne Brigade and the arrival of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Operations remain focused on finding regime leaders and searching key facilities. Special operations and conventional forces spread throughout the northern oil fields have secured all the fields. One oil fire is still burning.

Key battlefield developments in Iraq during the last week: * Sunday April 6 Sweep into Baghdad North: A U.S. warplane accidentally bombs a convoy of Kurdish fighters and U.S. Special Forces troops, killing 18 and injuring 45 others. Central area: U.S. troops capture one of Saddam Hussein's palaces. U.S. soldiers and Marines surround Baghdad. South: British officials say Gen.