Nassiriya fallout: Coalition forces suffered their toughest day of the war so far, with deaths thought to be in double figures, military chiefs said last night - the biggest number of fatalities was believed to be in the vicinity of the southern town of Nassiriya. Reports Ewen MacAskill in London
Twelve US soldiers were missing following an ambush outside the town, one of a string of locations along the Euphrates river where fiercer than expected resistance was encountered. Up to 10 more were believed to be killed in fighting in the same area.
Lieut Gen John Abizaid told a press conference at US Central Command in Qatar: "We are definitely missing 12 soldiers unaccounted for, some of whom I believe ended up on Baghdad television. A number were killed in action in Nasiriya with the Marines - I believe that number will remain less than 10, plus a number wounded."
He said the ambushed convoy had probably resulted from a young officer making a wrong decision.
"It was probably like many tragic incidents in war, a young officer leading its convoy made a wrong turn and went somewhere he wasn't supposed to."
About 1,000 US marines were engaged in an intense firefight at Nassiriya, according to US television correspondents, who also reported helicopters being called in to evacuate US casualties.
US network ABC quoted a US official saying 50 marines were wounded when their vehicle was hit by Iraqi artillery. Four soldiers were killed and five captured after apparently taking the wrong turning outside Nassiriya.
There was also heavy fighting further north at Najaf, the town that contains the holiest site of Shia Muslims. Although US forces were pinned down along the Euphrates, other US units were reported to be pressing ahead towards Baghdad.
The US advance appeared initially to be going well when they secured one of the few bridges at Nassiriya that had been rebuilt after the last Gulf war. But a Reuters correspondent, Sean Maguire, said the fighting had halted the US advance: "We're blocked. We can't go ahead because of security concerns because of this resistance."- (Guardian service)