Iraq's information minister read a message he said was from President Saddam Hussein on Saturday urging the Iraqi armed forces and ordinary citizens to step up attacks to defeat the U.S.-led invasion.
"The criminals will be humiliated," Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said in the message which he read on Iraqi television. He said it was from Saddam, and dated Saturday.
"You must inflict more wounds on this enemy and fight it and deprive it of the victories it has achieved... you must rattle their joints and terrify them and speedily defeat them in and around Baghdad."
The U.S. military said its troops entered the heart of Baghdad on Saturday for the first time since the war began on March 20.
Al Sahaf quoted Saddam as saying: "To hurt the enemy more, raise the level of your attacks." The message said that as the invaders were concentrating on Baghdad, their grip on other parts of Iraq was weakening.
"The enemy finds itself lost," Sahaf said. "Every time he finds the walls of Baghdad impenetrable he directs more force against it."
"It is the capital of beloved Iraq, and God will protect it as a symbol of faith, jihad (holy struggle) and virtue, even if He increases this burden," he said. "We are telling you this so you can attack the enemy even more."
Meanwhile, the US army launched a ground and air assault on the Shi'ite city of Kerbala, 110 km to the southwest of Baghdad.
In the north, U.S. forces moved from Kurdish-held territory towards Iraqi lines defending the oil city of Mosul, after a day of American air strikes on the area, a Reuters witness said.
In the Kerbala fighting, helicopter-borne troops of the 101st Airborne Division landed on the western edge of town and moved in beside a tank battalion with Apache attack helicopters overhead, Reuters Murray reported.
Iraqi paramilitary forces fired assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades from city rooftops. U.S. forces hit back using attack helicopters, artillery and heavy weapons.
U.S. officers said fighter jets had hit a Republican Guard facility, the ruling Baath Party headquarters and an ammunitions depot shortly before midday. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
