US Secretary of State Colin Powell conceded that the American-led invasion of Iraq had experienced difficulties but he said he was confident it would ultimately succeed. Powell's remarks were made during an interview with France 3 television news. "I'm quite confident that the strategy we have -- to take our time and to do it well -- is a strategy that will work, it will prevail and it will have its ups and downs," the secretary of state said.

The American-British army has abandoned plans to bypass the southern city of Basra and is instead now bent on taking it, because of continuing harassment of its supply lines by snipers and irregular Iraqi forces.

Powell said it was only a matter of time before the fall of Baghdad. "We control almost all of the country except for the area around Baghdad. We have coalition forces in the west, we have coalition forces in the northern areas with the Kurds, we control the whole southern part of the country, so we are now slowly encircling Baghdad," he said.

In Qatar, a British military spokesman at allied field command headquarters said he could not confirm reports that Iraqi forces in Basra were firing mortars on fellow Iraqis who were rebelling against them and that British forces were firing artillery on these mortar positions.

Iraq's main Shi'ite opposition group also said that people in Basra had risen up against forces loyal to President Saddam Hussein.

"We confirm an uprising is taking place in Basra, but we cannot give more details for the time being," said Mohamed Hadi Asadi, a spokesman for the Iran-based Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

On his part, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf on Tuesday denied reports of an uprising in the southern city of Basra, in a statement to Al-Jazeera television.

"I categorically deny these provocative lies the Americans are trying to spread through CNN," he said in a live telephone interview with the Qatar-based network. "These are lies issued by the US administration and British government ... with the aim of demoralizing" the Iraqi population, Sahhaf added. "I want to affirm to you that Basra is continuing to hold steadfast," al-Sahhaf conveyed

PHOTO CAPTION
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) talks outside the State Department in Washington, March 25, 2003. Powell met with Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio at the State Department today. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
- Mar 25 6:46 PM ET