1pm update

Iraqi forces 'fired on civilians'

· Delayed UK aid ship docks
· Bunker-busting bombs hit Baghdad
· Rumsfeld: US may beseige capital
An RAF medic near Basra treats a six-year-old Iraqi boy, for shrapnel injuries. Photo: PA.
The British military today claimed that a group of around 2,000 Iraqi civilians trying to flee the southern city of Basra were fired upon by Iraqi mortars.

Officers said Iraqi militia shot at civilians using machine guns and targeted them with up to nine mortars. However the civilians were in the vicinity of British forces, so it was impossible to be sure of the militia's targets from the first reports.

One young woman was seriously wounded and several other people received minor injuries, according to Captain Robert Sandford of the British Deserts Rats 7th Armoured Brigade, which is encircling the city.

Desert Rats from the Black Watch were said to have returned fire at the Iraqi militia after their attack at around 0700 GMT (10am local time). The civilians were waiting to cross a bridge west of Basra, close to where British tanks are positioned.

Iraq said today that 116 people had died and 695 had been injured in Basra since the war began.

Fleeing civilians injured in Iraqi attack

UK aid ship docks at Umm Qasr

The Sir Galahad, carrying over 200 tonnes of humanitarian aid, has finally docked in the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr.

The Royal Fleet Auxillery ship's arrival had been badly delayed because of mines in the waterway and fear of suicide bombing attacks.

Dolphins were trained to assist as mine-seekers. Two mines were discovered yesterday, according to a Sky News reporter on the ship, but it was unclear how long they had been in the waterway.

The ship arrived shortly after 1200 GMT (3pm local time) carrying food, water, blankets and medicine.

First aid delivery docks

Baghdad suffers heavy bombing

The Iraqi capital suffered one of its heaviest nights of bombing last night and was targeted again early today.

Last night a US stealth bomber dropped two huge "bunker-busting" bombs on a communications tower. The US military said Iraqi command centres were also targeted.

The bombing on Baghdad resumed shortly before 0900 GMT (12pm local time) when one explosion was heard in the city centre and several others in the outskirts, where many of the regime's elite troops are believed to be stationed.

Although Iraqi officials admitted the capital would probably be encircled within five to 10 days, they remained defiant. "The enemy must come inside Baghdad, and that will be its grave," the Iraqi defence minister, General Sultan Hashim Ahmed, said.

This morning, Iraq officials took journalists in Baghdad to see what they claimed was a downed US drone aircraft. Britain destroyed 14 tanks breaking out of Basra yesterday.

Rumsfeld says Baghdad siege may prelude invasion

The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, raised the possibility of a seige of Baghdad by US ground troops before any strike into the heart of the city.

Mr Rumsfeld, speaking to a Senate defence sub-committee in Washington last night, was asked what US ground troops would do once they reached Baghdad. He replied by saying that Baghdad had to be isolated before it was taken.

His comments may add ballast to criticisms that the US has underestimated the need for troops to quell stronger than expected resistance or protect long supply lines.

Pentagon officials said last night that almost 90,000 US troops were in Iraq, and that an additional 100,000 to 120,000 were on the way. US officials stressed the deployment was part of a long-existing military blueprint.

More than 250,000 US troops and 45,000 British military personnel are in the Gulf region, including thousands aboard Navy ships at sea, on air bases in surrounding countries and at headquarters encampments.

Blair: Iraq campaign will take time

Returning home after yesterday's meeting with the US president, George Bush, the prime minister, Tony Blair, said it would take time to "prise the grip of Saddam [Hussein] off the country, when it's been there for over 20 years".

He spoke today of "tough and difficult" moments in the war on Iraq but claimed coalition forces had made significant progress.
Blair: war will take time
'We are working to make the world more peaceful'

UN resolution on oil-for-food 'within 24 hours'

The UN security council was expected to vote within the next 24 hours to revive the oil-for-food programme upon which many Iraqis depend.

Mr Blair, speaking after meeting the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, in New York last night, said that he believed a security council resolution on the programme could be obtained within the next 24 hours.

This might help patch up differences over the war within the international community, he suggested.

Iraq: chemical suits are 'standard'

Iraq's information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, insisted today that chemical protection suits found by coalition forces, and cited as evidence that Iraq has chemical weapons, were just "standard equipment" for Iraqi soldiers.

He said they were in no way proof that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that they were normal kit for soldiers around the world.

A US officer said American brigades advancing on Baghdad battled around 1,500 Iraqis overnight near the central city of Najaf, 160km (100 miles) south of the capital.

Mr Sahaf said that US-British bombing killed 26 civilians overnight at Najaf and another seven in Baghdad.

Meanwhile, Al Ayyam, one of the three major Arabic language daily newspapers in the Palestinian territories, reported that 50 Iraqis had been killed in the northern city of Mosul.

Iraqi officials said yesterday about 350 civilians had been killed so far, and more than 3,500 others injured.

US troops are expected to have a fierce battle with elite Republican Guard troops near the Shia holy city of Kerbala, about 110km (70 miles) south of Baghdad, some time in the next 72 hours.

Today's best video

Today in pictures