The United States began war on Iraq early this morning, with warplanes bombarding military targets in Baghdad and a cruise missile strike aimed at Iraqi leaders in the south of the capital.
The cruise missile attack took place shortly after 5.30 a.m. (2.30 a.m. Irish time), about 90 minutes after President Bush's deadline to Saddam Hussein to flee ran out.
President Bush addressed the the nation at 3.15 a.m. (Irish time) saying a war against Iraq had begun and promising a "broad and concerted campaign" to disarm Baghdad and topple Saddam Hussein.
|
The strikes used Tomahawk cruise missiles - fired from ships in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf - and guided bombs dropped from the US Air Force's stealth fighter-bombers, military officials said.
Anti-aircraft batteries were heard firing at warplanes over Baghdad.
US forces were focusing on what they called a "target of opportunity" near Baghdad after US intelligence detected the possibility Iraqi leaders were in the area, a senior US government official said.
The official declined to identify the leaders who were targeted or to say whether the attack was successful. However, the it was reported that five leaders, including Saddam Hussein, were targeted.
Another US official said the attack was not the promised massive bombardment but an opportunistic "decapitation" strike.
Saddam appeared apparently live on state television three hours later gave a defiant speech. "The criminal little Bush has committed a crime against humanity," he said, wearing military uniform and a black beret.
Later, Iraq's information minister said buildings hit by US missiles in Baghdad were empty.
More than 250,000 US and British ground troops, backed up by a naval fleet as well as hundreds of warplanes at the ready in the Gulf, are massed on the outskirts of Iraq but there was no immediate word on their movements.
Reports from Kuwait say ground troops have not yet begun to move into Iraq.
Mr Bush and his closest ally on Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, say Saddam is harbouring weapons of mass destruction and have vowed to see him ousted from the country he has ruled with an iron grip since 1979.
But Saddam and the Iraqi leadership insist that US troops will meet their death in the desert sands of Iraq, which is facing its second US-led war since 1991, when US forces led a coalition to eject Saddam's troops from Kuwait.
Agencies