US forces have launched an assault on Baghdad's main airport as thousands of troops approach the Iraqi capital from the south and southeast.
US troops are reported to be fighting with Iraqi soldiers in an effort to gain control of the facility, which lies 12 miles outside Baghdad.
Dozens of Iraqis, including civilians and soldiers, were killed in the village of Furat near the airport in what witnesses said was a US rocket strike.
More than 120 people were reported wounded in the attack onthe village, which lies between the airport and the Iraqicapital. Iraqi officials put the total death toll at 83.
Meanwhile, three big explosions shook central Baghdad tonight and planes could be heard overhead as a cut in the city's power supply left Baghdad citizens in darkness.
US military officials said they had not targeted the electrical system. It is the first time power has been cut in Baghdad since the US-led war started two weeks ago.
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US forces advanced onto the outskirts of the capital today and Iraq said Republican Guard units had been sent to meet them in an effort to defend the capital.
US troops were reported to be within nine miles of downtown Baghdad and had seized control of southern approaches, said Major General Buford Blount, commander of the 20,000-strong US infantry division at the city's edge.
Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf denied that US forces were outside Baghdad, saying US troops were "not even 100 miles" from the city.
The Iraqi capital came in for another dose of aerial bombardment, with repeated air strikes pounding the southern fringes of the city.
Mr Sahhaf said 27 civilians were killed in the latest raids, while a hospital source said eight were killed and five wounded by a missile that hit a vegetable market on the edge of the city.
The sustained offensive saw US ground troops move to within striking distance of the capital on several fronts, with a twin assault from the Army and Marines closing in from the southwest and southeast.
An infantry officer said: "I really do not think it's going to be too long" before US forces seized the airport. At US Central Command in Qatar, Major Randi Steffy said US troops were "outside the airport." But other US military sources said Iraq was deploying more Republican Guards south of the capital to defend the city's airport and block the US advance.
General Blount said his troops controlled a key intersection south of Baghdad after heavy fighting earlier today and had the southern access to Baghdad blocked.
Major General Stanley McChrystal, vice-director for operations for the US military's Joint Staff, said the dramatic US advance yesterday had effectively destroyed two of the six Republican Guard divisions guarding Baghdad - the Baghdad and Medina divisions.
Iraq denied this, saying morale was high. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein vowed his troops would repel the invading army.
"They will not let them reach Baghdad," Saddam said in a letter to his niece, read on state television. "They will cripple them until they return to their countries defeated, leaving our country for its people".
The defenders of Baghdad have been preparing for urban warfare. Pick-up trucks equipped with machineguns and anti-aircraft guns are dotted across the city.
US forces would like to avoid street fighting in Baghdad, which could lead to heavy military and civilian casualties. But planners believe this prospect is increasingly likely as Saddam prepares to stage his last stand in the city.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned Iraqi moves to bolster city defenses meant tough fights lay ahead. "Our forces have been pressuring them on the ground and from the air," he said. "My guess is, however, that the Republican Guard that pretty much ringed Baghdad . . . will probably represent some difficult days ahead and dangerous days . . . in terms of fighting".
The United States lists 53 dead and 11 missing since the war began. Britain says it has suffered 27 dead. Official figures usually lag behind battlefield casualties.
Iraq has not provided figures for military deaths but estimates at least 677 civilians have been killed and 5,062 injured since war began on March 20th.
In London, British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said coalition forces were holding more than 9,000 Iraqi prisoners of war.
"Do not underestimate the task that still faces our forces or the length of time that it may take to complete," he said of the imminent battle for Baghdad.
To the north, Kurdish fighters backed by US planes clashed with Iraqi forces for control of an army command headqurters in Khazer on the road to the major northern city of Mosul, while British forces are battling for control of Iraq's second city of Basra in the south. They are still facing resistance from around 1,000 militia, along with regular troops who have moved back into the city, a British military spokesman said.
Agencies