Coalition Moves To Mosul; Fight May Be Avoided

WASHINGTON -- The surrender of northern Iraq's biggest city will be under discussion Friday.

Kurdish military leaders say remnants of Saddam Hussein's forces have offered to surrender in Mosul if they are granted amnesty and if coalition bombing ends.

U.S. Lt. Col. Robert Waltemeyer says there will be a meeting Friday morning to discuss the matter. Waltemeyer commands a special forces unit in the area.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says small numbers of U.S. and Kurdish troops have already entered the city.

Mosul is the second great prize sought by the Kurds after the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which they seized Thursday. That has unnerved neighboring Turkey, which fears Iraqi Kurdish influence on its own restive Kurdish minority.

U.S. Enters Kirkuk As Turks Watch Anxiously

American forces Thursday and Friday joined Kurdish fighters in Kirkuk.

Joyous residents showered the Kurdish troops with roses, but Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Kurds will pull back, which is likely to ease anxiety in neighboring Turkey, which is afraid that greater Kurdish control in northern Iraq could encourage Turkeys own Kurds to rise up.

The Kurdish leadership has sworn to cooperate with U.S. military authorities.

Kirkuk is the ancestral home of many Kurds and the gateway to Iraq's rich northern oil fields.

When Kurdish fighters arrived in Kirkuk, joyous residents toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein, then stomped it and hit it with their shoes -- a serious insult in the Arab world. The fighters have been driving through the city, flying the flags of the two major Kurdish political parties that rule the region.

A Pentagon spokesman said elements of the 173rd Airborne Brigade entered Kirkuk, "meeting minimal resistance," after the Kurds captured the city. Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, vice director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Kurdish forces were a combination of forces from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

McChrystal said the situation was "fluid."

Control of Kirkuk is the long-held dream of Kurds who were oppressed by Saddam's regime and established their own zone in northern Iraq in 1991.

More than 100 vehicles filled with Kurdish fighters drove through the streets, flying the flags of the two major political parties that rule the two sectors of the semi-autonomous region.

Earlier Thursday, U.S. and Kurdish forces reached the strategic Kirkuk oilfield, passing defecting Iraqi soldiers and officers along the way.

As the noose tightens around the government-controlled northern oil fields, troops in the region say they have found no damage to the wells or any uncontrolled burning.

U.S. Takes Aim At Remaining Iraqi Units In North

A Pentagon spokesman said Thursday that U.S. forces are "aggressively targeting" remaining Iraqi army units in the northern part of the country.

The units are the "last significant formations" the U.S. military knows of, McChrystal said, adding that regular Iraqi army conscripts and elite Republican Guardsmen remain in the north.

McChrystal said the capability of the units has dropped significantly -- "both from casualties and from people just leaving the battlefield."

"We have been targeting them aggressively," he said.

With the fall of Baghdad on Wednesday, speculation has grown that Saddam -- if he survived a U.S. airstrike Monday in the Iraqi capital -- would try to regroup in his hometown of Tikrit, which is about halfway between Baghdad and Mosul.

McChrystal said it is possible that a large force of Saddam loyalists is regrouping in Tikrit.

"We are prepared to be very, very wary of what they may have and prepare for a big fight," McChrystal said, adding that U.S. Marines and Army soldiers could be sent from Baghdad to Tikrit, about 100 miles north.

McChrystal said U.S. Central Command is evaluating air defenses in Tikrit.

"We're trying to take (air defenses) down," he said, adding that they have been "significantly degraded."

4 Marines Wounded In Baghdad Suicide Attack

Four U.S. Marines were wounded in a suicide attack apparently perpetrated by a civilian at a checkpoint in Baghdad on Thursday.

A Marine spokesman said an attacker with explosives strapped to his body approached a Marine checkpoint, and set off the explosives.

The bombing took place at a checkpoint near Saddam City, a poor neighborhood in the eastern part of Baghdad.

Capt. Joe Plenzler, a Marine spokesman, said he has no information on the condition of the injured.

Saddam's regime had warned that suicide attacks would be "routine military policy." And U.S. troops have been wary when civilians approach.

A week ago, two Iraqi women blew themselves up in an attack on U.S. forces, killing three American soldiers. And earlier, a bomber posing as a taxi driver killed four American servicemen at a roadblock near Najaf.

The Scene In Baghdad

Skirmishes between Iraqi holdouts and American forces continue in Baghdad, a day after the United States made massive gains in the Iraqi capital, inlcuding securing prime territory in downtown.

As night fell, several artillery shells hit the Old Presidential compound, which U.S. troops are now holding.

At least two explosions rocked the southern end of the compound, starting several small fires. U.S Army soldiers appeared to return fire with tank cannons. There are no reports of casualties.

Earlier, U.S. Marines seized a palace on the northern edge of the capital in a seven-hour gunfight. One Marine was killed and up to 20 were wounded. They also fought holdout fighters at a Baghdad mosque and at the house of a leader of Saddam's party.

In northwest Baghdad, small groups of Iraqi fighters were seen behind sandbags and bushes. There was no sign of American forces except at one intersection.

Meanwhile, Pentagon officials said Thursday that U.S. troops now form a circle around Baghdad. Officials said Army and Marine forces have linked up to control all the routes in and out of the Iraqi capital.

But pockets of resistance continue to cause problems.

At the U.S. Central Command headquarters in Qatar, Air Force Major Gen. Gene Renuart stressed that there's no military victory yet. He said overnight firefights demonstrate that "there's still a long way to go."

Smoke was billowing from buildings across the Iraqi capital. U.S. Marines in Baghdad said Iraqi holdouts were setting fire to their own quarters -- and blaming the Americans.

U.S. troops were occupying the oil ministry. But the transportation ministry building was gutted by fire, along with the Iraqi Olympic headquarters. The education ministry was partially burned.

Marines: Weapons Cache Found

U.S. Marines report finding a huge cache of weapons in the Iraqi capital. The American troops are manning checkpoints around Baghdad.

They said the weapons found include hundreds of mortar systems, rocket-propelled grenade systems, machine guns, and millions of rounds of ammunition.

They also found two working tanks, as well as several others that were being repaired. They said the mortar systems they found would be enough to supply 30 battalions.

Looting Reported

U.S. military officials said they hope to work with neighborhood leaders in Baghdad to restore calm. There's been a second day of widespread looting in the Iraqi capital following the apparent fall of Saddam's regime in the city.

Some U.S. Marines have been trying to protect an Iraqi police academy compound from looters. Extra troops had to be called in to protect the compound's armory, which has hundreds of rifles, grenades, knives and mortars.

Renuart said the Iraqis' anger toward symbols of their regime isn't surprising after years of oppression. He says military teams will work with community leaders to restore calm while the Iraqis rebuild their police force.

Renuart said curfews are possible, but that U.S. forces don't want to be "heavy handed."

A number of troops say their numbers are too few to keep much order.

One Marine said civilian looting is "all over the place." In addition to a surge in looting, buildings have been set on fire across Baghdad.

Thousands of people are roaming the Iraqi capital Thursday, many moving into the city center from the outlying areas with wheelbarrows and pushcarts.

Looters are hitting stores and government buildings, including the irrigation ministry, an air force officers club, a government computer center, a hospital and state labs.

The German Embassy was also plundered. Looters came out with air conditioners and computers. Carts pulled by donkeys and horses are being loaded with office furniture, TV sets, appliances and carpets. In one section of Baghdad, residents put up roadblocks and confiscated loot, sending it to a mosque.

Around the city, most motorists are flying white flags. Some public buses are even running.