US opens northern front, more bombings over Baghdad

          Baghdad, Mar 27: The USA opened a new front on Thursday when its troops parachuted into Kurdish-held northern Iraq before dawn. At the same time, Baghdad had to bear the brunt of harsh bombing in the afternoon as war entered its eighth day. The arrival of 1,000 paratroopers of the US 173rd Airborne Brigade from an American base in Italy is a move to threaten Baghdad from the north. Reinforced with tanks, they could threaten the Republican Guards.

           About 100 soldiers and two transport helicopters were seen at Harir airfield, 75 km north-east of the Kurdish city of Arbil. Kurdish fighters were seen helping the Americans. Soon after 3 pm three powerful explosions hit several parts of the Capital city. More blasts were reportedly heard from around Baghdad. Air raid sirens were sounding near the information ministry, according to Arab TV stations. Iraq has, meanwhile, claimed 4,000 civilian casualties so far, including over 350 dead. The three mighty raids on Baghdad on Thursday followed carnage on Wednesday when 15 civilians were killed by a twin US missile strike on a market area. But this, according to a US military spokesman in Qatar, may have been caused by stray Iraqi missile or deliberate Iraqi sabotage. But he admitted there is yet no final word on it. Issuing the Iraqi casualty figures, Health Minister Umeed Midhat Mubarak said 36 civilians had died in air raids on the Capital in the past 24 hours.

           Meanwhile, sandstorms have stopped bothering the warring factions and with clear skies above, Iraqi troops set fire to more oil- filled trenches around Baghdad, hoping that the black smoke would prevent coalition pilots from attacking the city. British tanks have destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks and four armoured troop carriers making the latest of several desperate attempts to break out of the southern city of Basra.

Coalition jets pound Baghdad again (Go To Top)

          Doha, Mar 27: Baghdad came under heavy bombardment again on Thursday overnight as several loud explosions were heard, said an Arab TV channel. Ten explosions were heard as warplanes flew overhead, the TV added. The blasts appeared to emanate from the outskirts of Baghdad and it was not immediately clear what were the targets of the new raids. US and British forces carried out a number of air strikes on Baghdad overnight and in the day, one of which Iraqi officials said killed 14 civilians.

          Coalition forces occupied three bridges on the Euphrates River and entered Najaf, a report said. Elements of the US Army's 173rd Brigade parachuted into northern Iraq, at an airfield in the first major deployment of forces in that part of Iraq, said a US defence official. The Pentagon said on Wednesday that US troops had fired 600 Tomahawk cruise missiles and more than 4,300 precision-guided bombs in the first six days of the US-led war on Iraq.

           Outlining some figures, the Pentagon said more than 250,000 US troops had been deployed in support of operations, as well as 40,000 mainly British and Australian coalition troops. "Our ground forces are pushing north towards Baghdad and Al Kut," said Major General Stanley McChrystal, Joint Staff vice-director of operations. "We are more than 220 miles into Iraqi territory and have done it in over six days in spite of difficult weather," said McChrystal. "Since March 20, our forces have fired more than 600 Tomahawks and dropped more than 4,300 precision-guided weapons," he told reporters.

          US-led coalition forces on Wednesday attacked a massive column of Iraqi tanks that poured out of the southern Iraqi city of Basra, a reporter with the British army said. Iraq TV transmission was disrupted as 3,000 US special land troops set for Gulf, a report said.

Iraq alleges deliberate attacks on civilians (Go To Top)

          Baghdad, Mar 27: Condemning the attack on a Baghdad market on Wednesday in which 14 people died, Iraq's health minister has said that the coalition attacks were aimed at breaking the spirit of the Iraqi people. Talking to reporters on Thursday, Health Minister Omid Medhat Mubarak said the United States and Britain were deliberately targeting civilians. The attacks are indiscriminate, irrespective of age, according to him. Shops and small public sector installations were the targets, he alleged. Thirty-six Iraqis were killed and 215 wounded in strikes on Baghdad on Wednesday. Fourteen people died in a northern Baghdad neighbourhood on Wednesday in a blast for which stray cruise missiles were held responsible. Mubarak also accused the US and British forces of dropping cluster bombs on civilian targets in Najaf.

Iraqi Kurds gearing up for Mosul battle (Go To Top)

          Baghdad, Mar 27: Iraqi Kurds are preparing for a major battle for the control of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul backed by coalition air strikes on the Iraqi side. However, their ultimate goal is not Mosul itself, a majority Arab enclave in the mostly Kurdish north, but on Kirkuk, the promised capital of an independent Kurdistan State and northern Iraq's oil capital, says the News.

           Mosul, some 350 km north of Baghdad on the Tigris River and home to around 300,000 people, has an airport and good road connections to the Capital, to Kirkuk in the east, Turkey in the north and Syria in the west. The city has traditionally been pro-Saddam Hussein and is defended by the Iraqi army's 5th division. For weeks, even months now, the Kurds have been plotting the downfall of Mosul and they are counting on defections in the Iraqi army rather than an uprising from within the city.

           The Kurds are also counting on the support of Kurdish tribes that have been fighting on the side of the Iraqi army, but which they believe are ready to switch allegiance to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the force that controls Iraq's north-western territories. The chief of the Harki tribe Jawhar Harki, who jumped ship to the PUK side, recently said that a 5,000-strong Kurdish militia in Mosul is waiting for his orders to act. The Kurdish intelligence source said that there are two or three other Kurdish tribe leaders ready to join the fight against Saddam and his regime. Kurdish officials say that the battle for Mosul will be tougher than that for Kirkuk. A PUK official recently said that Mosul "has always been loyal to Saddam Hussein." It was the only major city in the north not to fall into the hands of the Kurds in 1991.

           As for the military artillery defending Mosul, the Kurdish source says the city has a launchpad for Al-Samoud missiles, but many of the tanks in Mosul were recently moved south to Saddam's hometown of Tikrit.

           Meanwhile, a pro-US Kurdish faction in northern Iraq has been negotiating the surrender of one of two Islamist groups hit by coalition air strikes, amid preparations for an assault on the other group, which it claims is linked to Al Qaeda.

Hizbul Mujahideen splits  (Go To Top)

           Islamabad, Mar 27:  Pakistan-based militant organisation Hizbul Mujahideen split on Thursday with majority of the Hizb members losing confidence in Sayed Salahuddin's leadership and forming a separate unit in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The split became imminent after the killing recently of its former chief commander Abdul Majid Dar. Sources said as many as two hundred supporters of Dar parted ways with the Salahuddin-led faction and formed a new group. Later, Tufail Ahmed, a former operational chief of Hizbul and supporter of Dar, reportedly claimed, "around 40 per cent of the Hizb activists are with us." He added: "We will carry on the struggle for freedom from India." Militants had shot dead Dar at his house at Noorbagh in Baramulla district on March 23. A former Hizbul Mujahideen chief commander, Dar shot into prominence after announcing a unilateral ceasefire in 2000.

No affair with Jude, we were friends: Nicole (Go To Top)

            Washington, Mar 27: Oscar-winning Australian actress Nicole Kidman has strongly denied an alleged affair with actor Jude Law as baseless. The Hours star squashed reports that the two had become intimate while filming Cold Mountain together and added that they were just friends, according to a report in TeenHollywood.com. "There is no affair. Jude is a nice man and we became good friends. That is all," Kidman said.

          She also told an Australian celebrity magazine that the published photographs of the two actors together were entirely innocent. "Jude and I made a movie together. These pictures are from a wrap party for Cold Mountain and another group film party in Romania while we were filming. They were taken in a room full of people." "I am not a player. I have not fallen in love," she said while denying the categorically. The beautiful actress also rejected the well-publicised rumour that Jude sent her shoes as a gift - but that they were mistakenly sent to his estranged wife, Sadie Frost. "Why would someone send me shoes?," she emphasised.

Shakira's `luxury tour' of Europe (Go To Top)

          London, Mar 27:Following in the footsteps of US singer- actress Jennifer Lopez, Colombian singer Shakira has demanded that during the European leg of her Tour Of The Mongoose world trip, her dressing room must be filled with luxuries. Before she takes to the stage at Stadthalle arena in Austrian Capital of Vienna on Sunday, Shakira wants six bananas, five peaches and three mangoes. She also wants large white flowers, coffee from her native Colombia, the finest merlot wine and Chinese food, reports the Sun. Shakira kicks off her European tour in Paris on Friday night.

 Britney wants no one but Justin (Go To Top)

          London, Mar 27: Sexy singer Britney Spears and her ex- boyfriend NSYNC star Justin Timberlake have gone out for a secret date and are close to rekindle their romance. The pair met at the White Lotus nightclub in Hollywood on Friday night to sort out things, according to a report in the Sun. "Britney and Justin arrived just before midnight. They sat together in a corner just talking and drinking. They looked like they were getting on well. They left together at around 2 am and got into the same car with their bouncers and drove off in the direction of Britney's house," a source who watched the couple all evening said.

           Meanwhile, a friend of Britney's explained: "Britney is desperate to get back with Justin. They split up because she cheated on him and she regrets it more than anything in the world. She's been asking Justin for ages if he'll see her to let her explain how she feels. He has always given her the brush off - until now." Britney and Justin were the hottest couple in showbiz when they dated for four years after meeting as young stars of an American Disney TV show. The duo was heartbroken when the romance ended in May last year. Some friends of Britney even say that the only man she really wants is Justin.