Opposition leader in 'victory parade'

Iraqi opposition troops paraded through the southern town of Nasiriyah today after a night of fighting members of Saddam's forces.

The battle erupted after Ahmad Chalabi, a leader of the exiled Iraqi National Congress, arrived in Nasiriyah with 700 freedom fighters.

Mortar, rocket-propelled grenades, machinegun and small arms fire were heard throughout the night in the centre of the town - 200 miles south of Baghdad.

US Central Command denied its forces were involved in the fighting, thought to have raged between Chalabi's forces and remaining pockets of Ba'ath party and Fedayeen militia.

Chalabi is among several Iraqi opposition leaders to have slipped back into the country in the last few days, but he is the first to bring a military force with him.

The National Congress claims he is "the favourite candidate to lead" Iraq. But many Iraqis think his long absence together with the feeling that he is a puppet of America count strongly against him.

Meanwhile, in northern Iraq, US special forces and Kurdish Pershmerga fighters took the towns of Dibagah and Faida. But nearby, strategic crossroads between the cities of Mosul and Kirkuk remained a no-man's land.