Iraq said its resistance army was battling U.S.-led invasion forces inside Nassiriya and on the city outskirts on Tuesday, inflicting heavy casualties. An Iraqi military spokesman speaking on television at almost 2 a.m. local time stressed the fighting was still going on. "The blood of the enemy is flowing profusely," said the unidentified spokesman. "God bless your hands. Victory will be yours. God is by your side."

Reading a statement, he said that over the past 24 hours Iraqi forces had killed at least 60 U.S. and British troops, destroyed more than 35 vehicles and downed over five enemy aircraft in battles and ambushes throughout Iraq.

The U.S. and British military put their casualties at 46 U.S. killed and 17 missing, and 25 British dead, since the war began on March 20.

The Iraqi resistance forces fighting in and around Nassiriya included members of the elite Republican Guard, regular army troops, Arab volunteers, ordinary people and Baath Party militia, he said.

Nassiriya, which lies some 235 miles southeast of the capital Baghdad, has been the scene of heavy fighting during the past week.

President Saddam Hussein had awarded compensation to families of slain members of the 11th Brigade fighting in Nassiriya, the spokesman said, quoting a presidential decree.

U.S. Marines fought their way across the city's bridges last Tuesday but did not take control of the city from mainly paramilitary fighters. Since then, Iraqi resistance forces have carried out several ambushes in the area.

The Iraqi spokesman also said U.S. forces had launched an attack on Najaf in the past few hours. Fighters inside the city, some 100 miles south of Baghdad, had forced them to retreat after suffering heavy losses, he said.

Saddam had awarded medals to some Iraqi commanders on the battlefield and others posthumously to several troops who had died in combat, according to presidential decrees read out on television.

Key Developments in the War against Iraq

* _ U.S.-led troops fought pitched battles with the Republican Guard in Hindiyah, within 50 miles of Baghdad. Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf acknowledged that battles were taking place 30 kilometers south of Najaf and put coalition losses south of Baghdad and in Nasiriyah at 42 killed over the past 36 hours mid-day, Monday, March 31, 2003. Coalition warplanes pounded Baghdad and dozens of other Iraqi positions.

* _ U.S. troops shot and killed at least seven Iraqi civilians - some of them children - in a van at a checkpoint in southern Iraq when the driver did not stop as ordered, U.S. Central Command said. It said initial reports indicated the soldiers followed the rules of engagement to protect themselves.

* _ Huge explosions rocked central Baghdad late Monday. Earlier, an armada of B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers struck communication and command centers in the capital, the first such simultaneous attacks on the same location. Tomahawk cruise missiles hit the Information Ministry.

* _ Iraqi television aired footage of Saddam Hussein with sons Odai and Qusai at a meeting of top military commanders.

* _ Coalition commanders said a U.S.-led assault on a compound controlled by an extremist Islamic group turned up a list of names of suspected militants living in the United States and what may be the strongest evidence yet linking the group to al-Qaida.

* _ In northern Iraq, U.S. aircraft pounded Iraqi positions near Kalak, aiding Kurdish fighters as they seized territory from retreating Iraqi troops.

* _ British commandos destroyed Iraqi tanks and seized equipment in a suburb of Basra. A Royal Marine was killed and the Iraqis suffered a "large number of casualties," the British said.

* _ NBC fired journalist Peter Arnett after he gave an interview to state-run Iraqi TV saying the U.S.-led coalition's first war plan had failed because of Iraq's resistance.

PHOTO CAPTION

The US is sending about 5,000 reinforcements to the strategic southern city of Nasiriya to support the 7,000 marines facing stiff resistance there.