United States-led forces have defeated the Iraqi military and now control much of Baghdad. The Special Republican Guard and irregular troops are however resisting the invading troops in parts of the city. Lieutenant General Buford Blount, commander of the Third Infantry Division on Wednesday said only irregular forces such as Fedayeen and Baath Party loyalists were fighting on the Iraqi side.

In Washington, US President George W. Bush welcomed the joyous reception for US forces in Baghdad as a heartening sign of military triumphs but warned, "The war is not over."

As US Marines and Iraqis joined forces to topple a statue of President Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad, Vice President Dick Cheney cited "evidence of the collapse of any central regime authority" but warned "hard fighting" may yet lie ahead. "It's a historic moment," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Earlier, US forces met little Iraqi resistance as they took over swathes of the city on Wednesday, with looting erupting as it became clear that Saddam's 24-year stranglehold on the Iraqi people was disintegrating.

US Brigadier-General Vincent Brooks told a briefing at Central Command in Qatar: "I think we are at a degree of a tipping point where for the population there is a broader recognition that this regime is coming to an end and will not return in a way that it has been in the past."

With no news yet about the fate of Saddam Hussein or total control of the north, the invading forces desisted from stating that the invasion had ended.

Uniformed soldiers and police have completely disappeared from some areas of Baghdad leading to an outbreak of looting, as US forces continue their advance into the city

Al-Jazeera correspondent Maher Abdallah said he could hear tank fire from his location in the city centre but that it appeared to be intermittent and much less intense than Tuesday.

In other advances for the invading forces in northern Iraq, the US and Kurdish troops dislodged Iraqis from a mountain used to defend the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday.

But the US-led forces were keeping the Kurds at bay and not allowing them to move on their own into captured territory with a view to avoiding clashes with Iraqis who may resent the entry of the Kurds.

Al Jazeera correspondent in the northern town of Arbil, Waddah Khanfar, said the US Special Forces are in control and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are advancing in coordination with them.

--- Al Jazeera with agency inputs

PHOTO CAPTION

A recent undated U.S. Central Command aerial photograph shows Baghdad International Airport and Rasheed Airport in Iraq. Areas circled on the image were said by officials to indicate zones where Coalition forces have had continuous influence and freedom of movement since Tuesday. The image was presented during a press briefing at Central Command, at Camp As Sayliyah, in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, April 9, 2003. (AP Photo/U.S. Central Command)