War briefing

The Army’s 3rd Infantry Division and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force continue their two-pronged advance toward Baghdad. Southwest of Iraq’s capital, Army troops demolish much of the Republican Guard’s Medina Division, capture a bridge over the Euphrates River at Musayyib and move to within 19 miles of the city’s southern outskirts. To the east, Marines capture Al Kut, destroy the Baghdad Division of the Republican Guard and cross the Tigris River. Both American units are within the ‘red zone,’ possibly making them more likely targets of chemical or biological weapons.

North

* Iraqi forces retreat toward Mosul after a B-52 bomber strike. Kurdish fighters move into their positions within 15 miles of Kirkuk. American troops set up at a large airstrip in Irbil.

Baghdad

* A Special Republican Guard facility is bombed by allied aircraft. American planes also hit the International Trade Fair compound and strike residential areas where Republican Guard units are located. Central city bombed, including head-quarters of Saddam Hussein’s son Qusay. B-52s use cluster bombs for the first time in the war, stopping an Iraqi tank column guarding the city.

Karbala

* An Army Black Hawk helicopter is shot down near Karbala.

Najaf

* The 101st Airborne Division moves into the city center from the north and south, going block by block searching for Iraqi defenders.

Nasiriyah

* American special operations troops find nine unidentified bodies buried and two more in a hospital morgue during the rescue of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch. The identities of the dead were being determined.

Southern Iraq

* A Navy F/A-18 Hornet is shot down by an Iraqi surface-to-air missile.

Sources: Reuters; Periscope; Jane’s Defence Weekly; Associated Press

Researched by Times graphics reporters Tom Reinken and Brady MacDonald