The battle for Baghdad appeared to be starting last night with a US attack under darkness on Saddam Hussein International Airport, 25 km west of the city. Lara Marlowe in Baghdad, Deaglán de Bréadún in Doha and Conor O'Clery in New York report
It was the culmination of a day when coalition forces tightened their hold on the outer fringes of the Iraqi capital.
More than 120 people were reported to have been wounded in Furat, a village between Baghdad and the airport, after it came under sustained US bombardment.
The Iraq government claimed 83 people had been killed in the attack but that its forces had inflicted significant damage on advancing US tanks.
Loud explosions engulfed the southern approaches to the capital about 8.30 p.m., apparently an artillery barrage fired by the US 3rd mechanised infantry division.
John Irvine, a journalist from Northern Ireland with ITV, was caught in a two-way artillery battle at the airport, hours after The Irish Times was taken there by Iraqi officials in an attempt to disprove US-British claims their troops had nearly reached that strategic location.
Two embedded reporters with Coalition forces nearby said the airport had been partially taken late last night. A tunnel system was reportedly located under the facility.
The move came as Gen Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, laid out a strategy for the fall of Baghdad, indicating American forces would enter part of the city, take control of water and electricity and declare themselves the controlling authority, while isolating President Saddam Hussein in another part.
Gen Myers hinted that US forces expected less resistance in the eastern half of Baghdad. He said the Shia population, repressed by Saddam Hussein, makes up half the 5 million population and was concentrated in the east.
When Baghdad was isolated from the rest of the country the regime would no longer be in control and whatever it did would be irrelevant. The notion of a siege was "not the right picture" but the US could be patient, he added.
Though US and British spokesmen denied having targeted power stations, the city was thrown into darkness for the first time since the war started.
Military sources in Qatar said dozens of British and US special forces teams poured into the city after the power went down. The teams were said to be under instructions to hit key Iraqi military positions and to hunt down potential regime targets.
Details surrounding the bombardment of Furat were murky, with Iraqi television reporting dozens of dead in an artillery bombardment, and a Reuters reporter saying he saw a pile of bodies in a hospital, most of whom appeared to be soldiers.
If US forces secure the airport, which appeared to be poorly defended, they may begin airlifting more troops in for the coming battle.
While Iraqi resistance so far has been less than generally expected, Coalition spokesmen in Doha warned the most dangerous moments of the war were at hand, and allied fears persisted that their forces could be walking into a trap.
Even with Iraqi casualties said to be high, there were continuing Coalition warnings the Baghdad government could still counter-attack with its alleged supply of chemical weapons. US Central Command denied responsibility for the loss of electricity in Baghdad and speculated that the Iraqi authorities may have shut off electricity power as a defensive move.
The expected level of opposition from the elite Republican Guard has failed to materialise as yet and even Coalition sources were still unclear whether they had been effectively destroyed or had withdrawn as a temporary manoeuvre.
The credibility of Iraq's Information Minister, Mr Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf, suffered some damage earlier when he dismissed US claims to be advancing on the capital. "They are not even 100 miles from Baghdad," he said.
In a speech to Marines in North Carolina, President Bush said: "Having travelled hundreds of miles, we will now go the last 200 yards." In London, however, the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair warned his Cabinet they should not expect the war to end soon, though it was clear President Hussein would be overthrown.