Using tactics similar to those employed at the caves of Afghanistan , U.S. forces sought to clear Baghdad's international airport Saturday of Iraqi resistance - both above and below ground. An extensive underground network has been found at the airfield, according to Lt. Col. Lee Fetterman, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, of the 101st Airborne Division. He said some Iraqi fighters were suspected to be hiding there.

Hundreds of Iraqis have been killed in the push to take over the airport, Fetterman said. They include some resistance attackers, who had explosives strapped to them, he said.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, appearing before reporters in Baghdad on Saturday, said Iraqi resistance attackers used "creative operations" against U.S. invasion troops at the airport.

He also claimed that the Iraqis had ejected the troops from the airport and had them surrounded outside it, although it was clear the coalition had control of most of the airfield and had freedom of movement around it.

Brought in on Friday and attached to the 3rd Infantry Division, the soldiers of Fetterman's brigade were working, room by room, to clear buildings, basements and tunnels of Iraqi fighters on foot.

Typically, soldiers on such a mission make a "dynamic entry" - tossing explosives into a room and then moving in with a four-soldier team. But in this case the teams have been told to try to avoid damage when possible, Fetterman said.

"We're trying to protect the infrastructure of this country," he said. "We want to treat the people .... with respect and we want to turn the best product over to them that we can."

PHOTO CAPTION

U.S. invasion Soldiers, seen in this image from video, take cover Friday, April 4, 2003, as they work to secure Saddam International Airport near Baghdad, Iraq . U.S. forces seized Saddam International Airport on Friday after an all-night tank and infantry assualt, promptly renamed it and then began searching the tunnels underneath for any Iraqi soldiers who might be hiding out. (AP Photo/APTN)