The Pentagon said late Tuesday that two US airmen were missing after their F-15E jet fighter went down over Iraq on Sunday. It was the second US warplane lost over Iraq in two days, following the announcement that an A-10 Thunderbolt strike aircraft had crashed Tuesday after apparently being hit by a surface-to-air missile over Baghdad. General Buford Blount said at Baghdad's Saddam International Airport that the A-10 pilot "was recovered and medivac'ed out."

The Pentagon did not say whether the F-15E's crew were presumed to have been taken prisoner, but warned that coalition forces "expect Iraqi forces and Iraqi citizens to abide by all Geneva Conventions relating to the treatment of prisoners.

Iraqis to 'Burn Marines in Their Tanks

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf remained defiant, telling journalists US forces would surrender "or be burned in their tanks."

One US Marine was killed and six others wounded in firefights in the Baghdad suburbs, hours after they had completed their final advance into the capital, military officials said.

Meanwhile, US officials said invasion forces aimed to strengthen their grip on Baghdad after a day of fierce fighting in the Iraqi capital in which troops backed by tanks and air strikes moved into the city

New air strikes pounded the southern and southeastern fringes of the city, while in the centre, two US tanks captured a key bridge over the Tigris River, where they met stiff resistance from Iraqi forces.

Saddam Still Alive

The United States said meanwhile it was unsure if an air raid on Monday had killed President Saddam Hussein, but US authorities faced tough questioning over the deaths of three journalists in Baghdad.

However, the British press were quoting British intelligence services as saying Saddam likely survived the strike.
"He was probably not in the building when it was bombed," The Guardian quoted a source as saying.

The Times said Britain's foreign intelligence service, MI6, told the US Central Intelligence Agency it believed Saddam left the targeted building in Baghdad just before it was bombed.

"We think he left the same way he arrived,...either by a tunnel system or by car, we're not sure," the paper quoted a British intelligence source as saying.

Witnesses said at least 14 civilians were killed in the bombing that destroyed four houses and left a crater eight meters (26 feet) deep and 15 meters wide.

US President George W. Bush, meeting chief ally British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Belfast, reiterated that US forces did not know if Saddam was dead or alive after Monday's targeted bombing.

"I don't know whether he survived ... The only thing I know is that he is losing power... Saddam Hussein will be gone," Bush said after his third meeting with Blair in as many weeks.

Warning of an Iraqi Drastic Act of Defiance

The chief of staff of British forces in the Gulf warned of a potential "final act of defiance" by Saddam, with the collapse of his regime looking "inevitable."

"There is always the possibility that they were able to organize some final act of defiance -- and we've got to keep on our guard against that," said Major General Peter Wall.

Baghdad took on the appearance of a ghost town later in the day, plunged into darkness by a power cut, with sporadic explosions heard from the southern rim of the city.

Situation in Basra Still Fluid

In southern Iraq, a spokesman for British forces said "a couple more days" were needed before Iraq's second city of Basra could be declared secure, a day after Britain had said the battle for the city was largely over.

British spokesman Colonel Chris Vernon said that senior officers had met with an unidentified Iraqi leader to draw up an interim committee to run the city after the collapse of Saddam's Baath party in the city.

PHOTO CAPTION

A US Navy fighter jet takes off for a mission over Iraq. Two US airmen were missing after their F-15E jet fighter went down over Iraq, the US Defense Department said. (AFP/File/Leila Gorchev)