The fall of Baghdad

Baghdad is today rapidly disintegrating into a lawless city with hordes of looters taking to the streets.

Initial jubilation as US troops took control of five main districts of the city has swiftly been replaced by concerns that the sudden collapse of Saddam Hussein's hold has created a new and dangerous security nightmare.

Iraq's "command and control" structure appeared to have broken down in Baghdad, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said this afternoon.

Resistance to the coalition troops could still be quite "stubborn and fierce" but the pictures coming out of the Iraqi capital "tell their own story," Tony Blair's spokesman said.

The mood of wild euphoria among the five million-strong population of Baghdad was mixed with menace. One man waved an AK47 in the air as he shouted: "Liberty, Liberty. This is the day we have been waiting for for years
and years."

Marines were showered with flowers during their unopposed street-by-street approach towards the regime's last stronghold on the east bank of the Tigris. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "It looks as though we may be towards the close of hostilities."

But with fighting still continuing in some areas, a US military spokesman insisted it was too early to say the war was over.

Captain Frank Thorp said at Central Command forward headquarters in Qatar: "There may be many more fierce fighting days in front of us as coalition forces continue to move within Baghdad and within the country."

Gangs of youths roamed the streets in the centre of Baghdad. There was no sign of the ruling Ba'ath party or militiamen. On Palestine Street, where the Ba'ath Party held rallies and shows of force, gangs looted the warehouses of the trade ministry.

BBC reporter Paul Wood said there were occasional bursts of machinegun fire in the city centre but he said that could be from shopkeepers fending off looters.

He added: "A lot of shopkeepers have Kalashnikovs and there is a real fear this could tip into a form of civil war."

The police force had completely disappeared, he said. "They have finally realised this is the time to run away."

Iraq's communications apparatus also showed signs of crumbling. State television was knocked off the air and the government "minders" who had been shadowing foreign reporters did not show up for work.

At the same time the remains of the Republican Guard near Baghdad
were being hit by heavy artillery.

Meanwhile, the hunt for Saddam intensified as American forces cut off a possible escape route to the dictator's home town of Tikrit and air strikes there hammered Iraqi positions.

Also in the north of Iraq, US and Kurdish forces captured key Iraqi positions on a mountain near Mosul with "surprisingly little resistance" and now expect to advance on the city with little difficulty.

Overnight, Iraqi defenders in Baghdad resorted to increasingly desperate counter-attacks.

Elderly Ba'ath Party officials and remnants of Iraq's elite forces were involved in suicidal moves against vastly superior US forces.

In one desperate operation, 15 small boats, crammed with commandos from the Special Republican Guard, tried to cross the Tigris under cover of darkness.

But US tanks blasted each of the vessels, destroying the boats and killing the troops on board. Group Captain Al Lockwood said that the battle for Baghdad has switched from attacks on military and "regime" targets to a phase of "very much closer engagement" against pockets of resistance.

Elsewhere in the city there was light fighting reported as US marines advanced on three fronts towards the centre of the city.

There was no confirmation today about whether Saddam is alive or dead.

Twenty four hours after a bomb attack aimed at the Iraqi president and his two sons, Qusay and Uday, military and intelligence chiefs have mixed views about whether he survived. British intelligence sources, who played a key role in the operation, believe he probably escaped.

But in Washington, Pentagon officials continued to claim that there was evidence to show that Saddam was inside the bunker when the bombs fell.