A US warplane dropped 1,000-pound satellite-guided J-Dam bombs on military sites hidden in civilian buildings in Basra this evening as British forces battled to take control of the city, British officers reported.
They said the bombs, released by a US F-18 Super Hornet warplane, targeted a large ammunition dump containing weapons, shells and other munitions, as well as a building thought to be used by Iraqi fighters still defending Iraq's second-largest city.
Heavy fighting raged meanwhile on the outskirts of Basra, with British forces firing across the Shatt al-Basra waterway at Iraqi armour on the other side.
Two Iraqi T55 tanks were destroyed during the engagements, spearheaded by Challenger tanks from Britain's Desert Rats, the 7th Armoured Brigade.
British gunners also turned their fire toward Iraq's BMP1 armoured personnel carriers and D30 towed artillery guns, which fire 122mm shells.
There were no British casualties in the exchanges.
The decision to drop J-Dams marked a distinct escalation of the assault on Basra.
British commanders attempting to secure the city had previously refrained from ordering attacks directly into Basra to avoid alienating its large Shia Muslim population, which rose up against Saddam in 1991 and is believed to be broadly hostile to the Iraqi leader.
The change in tactics, according to British military analysts, has likely been prompted by fears that Republican Guards and Fedayeen paramilitaries are operating from the city, hiding in civilian buildings and having swapped their uniforms for ordinary clothing.
US and British officers are anxious to control Basra, which according to relief agencies is facing acute shortages of food and water, in order to allow the arrival of humanitarian aid.
Eventually, Basra and its port facilities would be part of an aid corridor for the rest of the country.
AFP