April 9, 2003	Wednesday	Safar 6, 1424

* US forces tighten grip on Baghdad, blitzing targets in heart of city after trying to kill Saddam and his sons; US says it does not know if air raid killed Saddam

* Bush, Blair endorse “vital” postwar role for the U.N; Chirac says up to U.N. alone to handle reconstruction

* US warplanes bomb Iraqi positions in Kirkuk, report slow progress on the ground

* Two cameramen, from Reuters and Spain’s Tele 5, killed after US tank fires on Baghdad hotel housing foreign media; al-Jazeera cameraman dies after US air raid on Baghdad

* Syria says coordinating with Turkey, Iran to prevent division of Iraq

QUOTES

UK spokesman Al Lockwood on Saddam: “We’re fairly certain and we have good source reports saying he has been killed. But we still don’t have substantiation and I think until we get that we can’t definitely say so.”

US Brigadier General Vincent Brooks on Iraqi leadership: “We’re not sure exactly who’s in charge at this particular point in time.”

CASUALTIES

* US - 91 dead, 14 missing

* Britain - 30 dead

* Iraqi military - More than 2,320, according to US military. Iraq has given no figures for its military losses

* Iraqi civilians (Iraqi estimates as of April 3) - 1,252 killed, 5,103 injured

MILITARY ACTION

BAGHDAD: US stages explosive show of strength in central Baghdad, blasts government targets after trying to kill Saddam and his sons with four huge bombs; fate of Iraqi leader unknown

US fires at Palestine hotel in central Baghdad, killing Reuters cameraman and Spanish Tele 5 cameraman, and wounding three Reuters journalists. Al-Jazeera reporter dies in US air raid

Jets and helicopters attack Republican Guard compound southeast of the centre; looting reported in capital

US Marines push into Baghdad from east, say have seized Rashid military airfield, which Iraqi forces had abandoned

CENTRAL IRAQ: US forces battle Republican Guards near Hilla, 100kms south of Baghdad

NORTHERN IRAQ: US pounds Iraqi positions in and around Kirkuk overnight in one of the heaviest attacks yet in the area —Reuters