Kurds in northern Iraq were last night celebrating the collapse of Saddam Hussein's rule in the region, with the fall of Kirkuk and the imminent fall of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. Lynne O'Donnell reports from Kirkuk, and Nicholas Birch, Istanbul.
In Kirkuk, there were scenes of jubilation, mirroring those in Baghdad the day before. Kurdish peshmerga militia entered the city accompanied by US Special Forces.
People swarmed on to streets when it became clear the regime's forces would not fight. Some melted away unseen; others, some in civilian clothes, emerged from foxholes to be embraced as brother Iraqis. On the Square of Arabian Nights, a giant statue of Saddam Hussein was torn down. Pictures of the dictator were set on fire.
The day's events caused extreme anxiety in Turkey which fears that a declaration of Iraqi-Kurdish independence in the oil-rich region - which many Kurds want - would destabilise neighbouring southern Turkey, which is largely Kurdish.
Those fears appeared to have been assuaged, however, when Ankara announced it would be sending military observers to Kirkuk. "This was Washington's suggestion," Mr Abdullah Gul, Turkey's foreign minister, told the private news channel NTV, "and we have accepted it."
The White House spokesman, Mr Ari Fleischer, said that the US, not the Kurds, would be in control of Kirkuk, the centre of northern Iraq's vast oil fields. And late last night, the Kurds themselves were seeking to calm Ankara's fears. Iraqi-Kurdish leader Mr Jalal Talabani said he had ordered his fighters to pull out of Kirkuk by today. "I have ordered all the peshmerga to leave the city by tomorrow morning," said Mr Talabani, head of one of two main Iraqi Kurdish factions.
But even as he spoke, American Special Forces and peshmerga were preparing to enter northern Iraq's other major city, Mosul, an important industrial centre. More than 200 local militiamen arrived at the Shewa Ree checkpoint outside the town of Bardarash in the mid-afternoon, with more on the way, as Special Forces in white jeeps, some equipped with heavy machine-guns, raced towards the frontline, then just 10 km outside Mosul.
The US has moved its most powerful conventional weapon to the Gulf, Pentagon officials said yesterday, a development apparently designed to send a clear message to Iraqi forces dug in around Saddam Hussein's stronghold of Tikrit that they will be obliterated if they stage a last stand.
A single 21,000 lb massive ordnance air blast (Moab) bomb has been moved to an undisclosed forward air base in the region. "I can confirm the Moab is now in theatre," a Pentagon official told CNN.
In Najaf, Iraqi Shia leader, Mr Abdul Majid al-Khoei, and an aide were stabbed to death by a mob in an attack in the Imam Ali Mosque, the city's holiest shrine. The murder seemed certain to inflame emotions among the Shia, who make up 60 per cent of Iraq's population. Mr Majid had returned to Iraq only last week but his presence had provoked intense criticism from other Iraqi Shia dissidents keen to assert their authority.
In Baghdad, meanwhile, the city has continued its descent into lawlessness, including another suicide bombing last night in which some US Marines are believed to have been killed. Looting was widespread and many businesses and services, including some hospitals, have ceased to function.