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Battle begins for Saddam hometown
TIKRIT, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Marines battled Iraqi forces in former President Saddam Hussein's hometown Sunday -- the last major Iraqi city not under coalition control, a Canadian reporter said. Earlier, a U.S. Marine march to Tikrit -- where the mission was to "attack and destroy any type of regime forces in the area" -- turned up seven American troops who had been held by Iraqi soldiers, U.S. sources said. Canadian reporter Matthew Fisher, who is traveling with the Marines, told CNN that U.S. forces were fighting about 2,500 Iraqis for five or 10 minutes at a spell, followed by a lull of an hour or so. "Whether Saddam Hussein is alive or not, his regime still lives in this town," he said. Fisher said several Cobra attack helicopters were targeting Iraqi forces inside the city, and about 250 armored vehicles from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit had entered Tikrit. The commander of the operation to take Tikrit, Brigadier General John Kelly, said the Marines encountered five manned tanks on the outskirts of the city and destroyed them. They also fought a fierce gun battle with an Iraqi infantry unit, killing at least 15 Iraqi troops, he said. Senior military officers told Fisher they believed some Republican Guard leaders were in Tikrit. There have been no reports that Saddam is in the city. Earlier Sunday, a schoolteacher outside Tikrit told CNN's Brent Sadler that surrender negotiations were under way although U.S. Central Command could not confirm this Sadler earlier reported seeing abandoned, undamged Iraqi armor in Tikrit and an empty military base. But after shots were fired at CNN's convoy he said he believed the city was still in the hands of Saddam's armed loyalists and Baath Party officials. (Full story) Although most other big towns have fallen to coalition forces, other pockets of Iraqi troops and paramilitaries loyal to Saddam are still fighting U.S. and allied troops throughout Iraq, said Gen. Tommy Franks, the chief of the U.S. Central Command. About 30 miles south of Tikrit, Iraqi troops handed over seven American prisoners -- two of whom were seriously injured -- to Marines after the Iraqi commanders deserted, CNN's Bob Franken reported. They were captured in the first week of the war. Five were from an Army maintenance company ambushed near Nasiriya, while the others were crew members of an Apache helicopter gunship that went down south of Baghdad. Conditions inside Baghdad remained unsettled Sunday, several days after the apparent collapse of Saddam's rule. Pockets of resistance continued to threaten coalition forces and journalists there. Smoke rose over a western section of the capital, following explosions near one of Saddam's palaces, believed to have been caused by coalition airstrikes, CNN's Michael Holmes reported. On Saturday, a U.S. Marine was shot and killed at a Baghdad checkpoint by a man carrying a Syrian identification card, Central Command said. And two Iraqis armed with AK-47s opened fire on U.S. Marines late Saturday near the Palestine Hotel. The Marines responded with "overwhelming firepower," Holmes reported. In other developments: • Documents discovered in Iraq indicate Russia helped Saddam Hussein's intelligence services in the months leading up to the war, according to a British newspaper. (Full story) • In southern Iraq, local civic and religious leaders of Kut Sunday handed over administrative control of the town to U.S. Marines after days of negotiations, CNN's Art Harris reported. (Full story) • Gen. Tommy Franks said Sunday the Saddam Hussein government was now an "ex-regime," but he said he was reluctant to declare victory in the conflict because some resistance remained throughout Iraq. (Full story) • Saddam's scientific adviser Lt. Gen Amir al-Saadi surrendered to U.S. Marines Saturday after seeing he was number 55 on a U.S. list of 55 most wanted of the old regime. (Full Story) • Russian President Vladimir Putin Saturday accused the U.S.-led coalition of having failed to achieve its war aim, to disarm Iraq. (Full story) • Tens of thousands of anti-war protesters across the world marched Saturday to commemorate those killed during the war in Iraq and urged coalition troops to leave the war-torn nation soon. (Full story) • According to the latest figures provided by U.S. and British authorities, a total of 146 coalition service members have died in the conflict. (Coalition casualties) • The Iraqi government released no information on military losses, though U.S. military officials have reported thousands of Iraqi military deaths. Before the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, Abu Dhabi TV, quoting official Iraqi sources, put the figure at 1,252. U.S. Central Command said more than 7,300 Iraqis were taken prisoner of war. EDITOR'S NOTE: CNN's policy is to not report information that puts operational security at risk.
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