A big convoy of US Marines crossed the Euphrates river and Saddam Canal at Nassiriya today to resuming an advance toward Baghdad after fighting their way through the city, it was reported.
A Reuters correspondent, travelling with the US troops, said the convoy had raced through the streets along a protective corridor of US armour, crossing first then river and then the canal.
"Nassiriya seems to be still hostile but the Americans are across the waterways and are moving north again," he said.
A northward advance on the far bank of the Euphrates could eventually form the eastward arm of a pincer movement on Baghdad, 235 miles north of Nassiriya.
To the west of the river, US forces are only 60 miles south of the capital.
