- WITH explosions pounding
the city centre and US forces claiming the sprawling airport on the outskirts,
Baghdad is a ghost town, huddled up in some areas, alert in others.
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- Just as the clock struck midnight (0600 AEST), two massive
blasts woke up even the deepest sleepers in the heart of the capital, which
has been hit night and day by US missiles and bombs since March 20.
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- But other than the bright flashes, the only thing to
light up the dark streets of this city of five million were the neon signs
of a few cafes and the dim glow peeping out of apartment windows.
-
- A handful of young people wandered about, beating the
suffocating heat, while militiamen stationed themselves on benches or at
the doors of buildings, smoking cigarettes, laughing or simply staring
off into space.
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- The Tigris river - into which a missile plunged early
in the evening near Saddam Hussein's main palace - divides the city in
two. Power has been restored on the east bank of the river. The other side,
home to most official buildings, remains dark.
-
- This morning, much of Baghdad woke up brutally to the
sound of machine-gun fire and light artillery. The battle lasted three
hours.
-
- A US officer claimed some 1,000 Iraqi troops died in
the fighting and that the coalition securely held the airport. Iraq claimed
it had forced the invaders out.
-
- In the west of Baghdad, the signs of war are apparent,
with tanks and nervous militiamen and hospitals filled with wounded troops.
And the rumour persists in the streets, but never witnessed, of US forces
penetrating the city.
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- In the east, the city is as quiet as can be. Nearly all
stores have drawn down their shutters. Even the markets where Baghdadis
go to buy food - the Al-Arab souq, with its tinned goods, and the al-Ghazai
souq, renowned for its fowl - are deserted.
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- Five money changers stayed open, but no customers came.
Oddly, the Iraqi dinar is trading at 3,300 to a US dollar, against 3,800
the day before.
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- "There's no work to be had here, so I'm going to
move my family to Diyala in the east of the country. But then I'll come
back. The men should stay here," said the owner of the As-Saah exchange
office.
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- Bus stations and taxi stands were empty. But utility
vehicles can be seen in the capital's battered outskirts filled with beds,
mattresses, pots and pans.
-
- Some were heading to the centre of the city in hopes
of finding safety. Others were going to the provinces, as if the passengers
hoped to avoid the fateful Battle of Baghdad.
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- Nonetheless, there is little to indicate a massive exodus
of people, who have grown fatalistic faced with years of war and economic
misery.
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- In the city's northern Qahiri area, Ali, who has five
daughters, packed up his remaining belongings in his van, tying it up with
a rope.
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- "A bomb fell last night near our house and so I
decided to send my wife and children to the Adhamiyeh neighbourhood downtown.
That seems like a less vulnerable place," he said.
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