In Cairo, Arab foreign ministers unanimously condemned the “aggression” against Iraq and called for the “immediate withdrawal” of US and British forces from the country.

Saddam, shown twice on Iraqi television during the day, praised his commanders and fighters, who have stalled the US-led advance in places, and told them US and British invasion forces had underestimated their resolve. “The enemy is trapped in the sacred land of Iraq... brave fighters, hit your enemy with all your strength,” he said.

US Marine Captain Rick Crevier said about 100 Fedayeen militia, infantry, Baath Party militiamen and Republican Guards were still holding out in Umm Qasr — three days after US and British forces first said they had secured the port.

Six members of Iraq’s ruling Baath Party, including a regional leader, have been killed in combat near Nassiriyah, Iraqi state television said. The six men were killed while “pursuing a group of American and British soldiers” in Zhi Qar province, some 300 kilometers south of Baghdad.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair revealed US-British forces were just 100 kilometers south of the Iraqi capital and said the capture of Baghdad was now the immediate aim of the war.

But Saddam’s deputy prime minister, Tareq Aziz, told a news conference the Iraqi leadership was in good shape, and that Saddam himself was “in full control of the army and the country.”

In Washington, Secretary of States Colin Powell said the US has got reports that Saddam had authorized the use of chemical weapons against Shiite Muslims in the south of the country in order to blame the attacks on US forces.

Allied air strikes, meanwhile, pounded this city for a fifth night, setting off at least three huge explosions shortly after darkness fell. Despite allied losses and protracted fighting in the south, Franks told a press conference in Qatar that “progress toward our objectives has been rapid and in some cases dramatic.” US forces said they were treating several wounded civilians at a captured air base in southern Iraq who they said had been used as human shields by their own country’s forces.

A US military spokesman admitted missiles fired by allied forces had destroyed a civilian bus during an attack on a bridge in Iraq, killing five Syrians who were returning to their country on Sunday.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf announced that 24 people had been killed and 411 injured in bombardments of Baghdad, Karbala, Basra and Babel.

Britain’s Ministry of Defense confirmed the death of the first member of British ground forces since the war began, saying the soldier had been killed in action south of Basra and two British soldiers were reported missing, presumed dead in southern Iraq.

In northern Iraq, US-led forces bombed targets around the oil city of Kirkuk and moved more forces into eastern Iraqi Kurdistan, as pro-US Kurdish forces signaled the possible opening of a new front in the offensive.

A resident inside Kirkuk reported “many dead and injured” after a morning of intense air strikes on Iraqi army positions. But Blair warned Turkey against sending any troops into the Kurdish-controlled north of Iraq, telling lawmakers it would be “entirely unacceptable.”

In response to a deepening realization that the conflict could drag on after the setbacks suffered by US-led forces, the dollar fell sharply and oil prices rose.