The commander of invasion forces in Iraq said U.S. troops pushed into Tikrit on Sunday. Gen. Tommy Franks told CNN that U.S. Marines had met no resistance as they entered Tikrit. He did not indicate whether the forces were in the center or the outskirts of town, and did not say whether it had fallen. Tikrit is about 145 kms north of the Iraqi capital.
"I wouldn't say it's over," Franks told CNN. "But I will say we have American forces in Tikrit right now."
A task force from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force set out from Baghdad on Saturday; on Sunday they were approaching Tikrit from the south along Highway 1, which passes through Samarra, said Lt. Mark Kitchens, a Central Command spokesman.
Another prong of Marines that left the capital Saturday met "minimal resistance" along Highway 5 as they moved toward the town of Baqubah, about 50 kms northeast of Baghdad.
The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV also reported Sunday that tribal chiefs in Tikrit had requested a cease-fire in order to start negotiations. Central Command spokesman Capt. Stewart Upton, however, said he had no reports of any surrender negotiations with any remnant fighters in the city.
Elsewhere, US Special Operations forces were intercepting Saddam's loyalists along Highway 2 between the northern city of Mosul and the Syrian border, and along roads north and south of the town of Bayji, about 40 kms north of Tikrit, Kitchens said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
