Planes from the USS Kitty Hawk and others were very, very active in Iraq today, making up for lost time during the recent sandstorm.
American-led forces bombed Iraqi targets and battled troops across Saddam Hussein's slowly shrinking domain Thursday, battering the regime's communications and command facilities in Baghdad.
In the war zone, sandstorms abated and the Americans and British reported flying 1,500 missions during the day as they exploited their unchecked air superiority. British forces reported destroying 14 Iraqi tanks near Basra - their largest such take since World War II. Warplanes bombed positions in northern Iraq near Kurdish-held areas and hit Republican Guard forces menacing American ground forces 50 miles south of Baghdad. Thunderous explosions rocked the capital after nightfall in one of the strongest blasts in days, filling the sky with flames and thick smoke after one of Saddam's presidential palaces was hit.
Combat aircraft dropped bombs "just about as fast as we can load them," said Capt. Thomas A. Parker, aboard the USS Kitty Hawk in the Persian Gulf.
Posted by Alan at March 27, 2003 09:38 PM