Smoke billows Thursday from a fire near the Al Wazir Mosque in Baghdad.

The U.S. Central Command said on Thursday that Baghdad was "still an ugly place." One day after coalition forces dragged a statue of Saddam Hussein to the ground, firefights broke out in other sections of the city, leaving dozens of U.S. troops wounded. U.S. officials cautioned that coalition military personnel were holding positions in a very dangerous country.

Another statue of Saddam was toppled on Thursday in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Thousands of residents flooded into the streets in celebration as coalition forces moved into the city without a fight. But U.S. officials said the situation there remained unstable, even though Kurdish forces that are supporting the coalition dominated the city with U.S. troops.

At a school in Kirkuk, children ripped to pieces the pictures of Saddam that adorned their textbooks. "Anything with Saddam, we destroy," one student said.

Near Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, four U.S. Marines were wounded on Thursday when a suicide bomber walked up to a military checkpoint and detonated his explosives. U.S. military officials voiced concern about such tactics from Iraqi "irregular" fighters.

After receiving information on Thursday that senior Iraqi leaders may have been meeting at a mosque in north central Baghdad, Marines approached the building and came under heavy Iraqi fire. One Marine was killed in the battle, and 22 others were wounded.

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"We had a number of people wounded today and yesterday. And it's still a very dangerous situation," said U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He added that coalition airstrikes were continuing on Iraqi positions.

Other signs of instability were apparent in the looting taking place throughout Iraq. In some parts of the Gulf nation, looters appeared to have free reign on Thursday. They took furniture, appliances, office supplies, and other materials from government buildings.

Videotaped statements from President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were broadcast to the Iraqi people. Bush said, "At this moment the regime of Saddam Hussein is being removed from power, and a long era of fear and cruelty is ending." Blair added that coalition forces would work with Iraqis "to build the peaceful, prosperous Iraq that you want and you deserve."

On the home front, thousands of labor union workers massed at Ground Zero in New York to participate in a rally supporting U.S. troops. And some members of Congress attended a similar ceremony on Capitol Hill, during which they sang "America the Beautiful."