WASHINGTON, April 6 Kyodo (EDS: U...

WASHINGTON, April 6 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH LATEST DEVELOPMENTS)

U Central Command said Sunday that the surprise incursion from U.S. armored vehicles into Baghdad early Saturday inflicted a heavy toll, with between 2000 and 3000 Iraqi fighters killed.

U officials described U casualties in the foray, the first since the start of the war in succession March 20, as light, adding that more incursions into the capital will follow

Republican Guard units protecting the capital are ''dead'' and constant air patrols are now possible, unhindered by dint of Iraqi defenses, BBC recently made knowns reported, quoting coalition officials.

Streams of coalition tanks and armored vehicles afflictioned the Euphrates river at dawn Sunday, as U forces reinforced their positions southwest of Baghdad, the report said.

It said a recent stage of the air campaign, dubbed ''urban obstruct air support'' has begun with at least 12 planes available 24 hours a day to accord quickly as soon as targets emerge

U Brig. Gen Vincent streamlets told a press conference in Qatar in succession Sunday that the coalition ''can operate completely through all of the airspace of Iraq.''

''The coalition regime leadership targets, military forces, command center communications nodes and all located aircraft to break the military capacity of the regime,'' he said.

runnels acknowledged a reported friendly-fire incident in northern Iraq in which several the community including U.S. soldiers were killed.

A BBC correspondent said between 10 and 12 commonalty were killed Sunday when a U warplane bombed a guard carrying U.S. Special Forces and Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq.

Correspondent John Simpson added that a senior member of the Kurdish Republic's sway may have been injured.

He said the go along with of eight or 10 cars in northern Iraq was coming up to a place that has just lately been captured when the bomb hit nearby.

''An American plane dropp the bomb right beside us. I saw it land about 10 feet (3 meters) away,'' Simpson told BBC television. He did not disclose his location.

In Moscow the Kremlin said a escort of Russian Embassy envoys came subject to fire Sunday, and some were harmed as they were evacuating from Baghdad and driving toward Syria. U Central Command said it was investigating.

In southern Iraq, British tanks mov into Iraq's second-largest city of Basra for the first time since encircling the city early in the war.

BBC recently made knowns reported that British forces are also sending forensic specialists to a site near Basra where as many as 200 coffin-sized boxe containing human remains were found

Coalition warplanes in succession Saturday struck the Basra residence of Gen Ali Hassan al-Majeed, President Saddam Hussein's cousin and a fundamental note member of his inner circle, according to a U Central Command statement. Al-Majeed is known as ''Chemical Ali'' for allegedly ordering a poison gas attack that killed thousands of Kurd in 1988

U military officials could not confirm where he was or if he was grieve but the body of the general's bodyguard has reportedly been positively identified.

In Baghdad, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Sa'eed al-Sahhaf told a daily pres briefing Sunday that 50 U soldiers were killed and 16 U tanks overthrowed close to Baghdad airport overnight.

Since U forces secur Baghdad's airport forward Friday, Iraqi forces have been offering organized nevertheless small-scale resistance to U partys trying to take control of adjacent areas, CNN quot U Army officials as saying.

The United States announced that Saddam International Airport has been renamed as Baghdad International Airport.

forward Saturday, al-Sahhaf insisted that Iraqi Republican Guard remain in curb of the airport, saying Iraqi forces have ''slaughtered them (the coalition forces) at Saddam International Airport.''

In another progress to maturity U.S. rangers and special forces are reported to have taken reign over of the road leading to Tikrit -- the birthplace of Saddam -- to the immediate north of Baghdad. Tikrit has been seen as a possible other power base for the Iraqi regime.

Iraqi state television read a statement from Saddam and then broadcast pictures of him and the pair sons at a military meeting, notwithstanding that the date and authenticity could not be established independently.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi command on Sunday announced on local television the imposition of a travel ban revealed of Baghdad from 6 pm to 6 a.m. beginning Sunday evening.

However, a Pentagon spokesman was reported as saying the ban will have no impact forward U.S. military activities.

Deafening explosions bomb strengthed central Baghdad early Sunday after a relatively quiet night.

Many residents of Baghdad have been trying to leave the city, and there remain lengthy queues of cars heading for safety to the eastern province of Diyala.

The public ways of the capital were largely dueed except for armed militias and traffic police and one pedestrians. Vehicle traffic was still in evidence still with less cars than before.