war update | transmothra

from CNN.com‘s wartracker

WAR UPDATE

BATTLEFIELD

BATTLES

•
A major column of Iraqi Republican Guard troops is moving south toward
Najaf, reported CNN Correspondent Walter Rodgers, who is embedded with
the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division. The column is expected to reach
coalition forces sometime Wednesday night, he said. Full Story

• The Iraqi troops — reportedly in more than 1,000 armored vehicles —
left the Baghdad area at a rate of 18 to 36 mph, Rodgers said.
Coalition military officials expect the forces will attempt to retake a
key Euphrates River bridge that U.S.-led forces captured after fierce
fighting earlier this week.

• A column of 70 to 120 Iraqi armored vehicles also poured out of the
southern city of Basra heading southeast in what coalition
reconnaissance intelligence said appeared to be an offensive charge.
Coalition aircraft were scrambled to intercept them.

• U.S. war planners may have miscalculated the strength and capability
of Iraq’s paramilitary fighters, one Pentagon official said Wednesday
for the first time. One knowledgeable official told CNN that “I think
we underestimated” the Saddam Fedayeen, a group of paramilitary
fighters said to be loyal to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s son Uday. Full Story

• The Pentagon is looking seriously at a report that Iraqi soldiers may
have shot U.S. Army soldiers as they were surrendering, sources told
CNN Wednesday.

• U.S. Marines battled Iraqi forces for the third consecutive day over
control of the city of Nasiriya, which is located along a key
north-south route. Full Story

Gallery: Photos of war | Animation: Battle scenarios

AIRSTRIKES

Coalition
airstrikes early Wednesday destroyed nine surface-to-air missile sites
that were 300 feet from residential areas in northern Baghdad,
according to U.S. Central Command.
• Coalition jets pounded a ridge
outside the northeastern Iraqi city of Chamchamal early Wednesday,
destroying an Iraqi command-and-control bunker, next to a road leading
to Kirkuk.

• Iraqi television resumed local broadcast Wednesday, after a pre-dawn
coalition missile strike hit its Baghdad headquarters. The Pentagon
earlier said Iraqi TV was on the U.S.-led coalition’s list of intended
targets.

CASUALTIES

• Coalition deaths in the Iraq war now total 47.

Killed in Action: List of coalition fatalities

• Iraqi officials say at least 93 civilians have died since the U.S.-led
invasion began. Hundreds have been wounded, the Iraqi government said.
On Wednesday, Iraqi officials said U.S. munitions killed 15 Iraqi
civilians at a popular market in Baghdad. CNN cannot independently
verify Iraq’s figures.

WEAPONS

Cruise missiles, bombers and tanks used in U.S.-led attacks

Apache attack helicopter | A-10 Thunderbolt
More weapons

ON THE SCENE