(Central Command Report, April 2: Iraq Operational Update) (830) U.S. Marines have destroyed the Baghdad Division of the Iraqi Republican Guard and crossed the Tigris River in the march to Baghdad, while other U.S. forces have engaged and are attacking the Guard's Medina and Nebuchadnezzar Divisions, a Central Command [CENTCOM] briefing officer says. The Baghdad Division was defeated 105 miles [170 kilometers] southeast of the Iraqi capital in the strategic town of Al Kut, which guards the main highway to Baghdad and is across the Tigris River, Army Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said April 2 at the daily CENTCOM media briefing. "Our land component initiated a two-corps attack to destroy Republican Guard forces defending the outskirts of Baghdad. [The] First Marine Expeditionary Force attacked the Baghdad Division near the town of Al Kut and has crossed the Tigris River," Brooks said. "The Baghdad Division has been destroyed." He also said that when U.S. forces crossed the Tigris River, they entered the "red zone" near Baghdad where the Iraqis might begin using chemical weapons. Coalition forces believe the Iraqi army has established a "trigger line" around Baghdad where they will begin using weapons of mass destruction to either slow down or halt the coalition advance nearing the capital city. "Fifth Corps attacked against a combination of the Medina Division and the Nebuchadnezzar Division, both of the Republican Guard forces command. Their attacks are effective. And action continues in this case near Karbala along the Euphrates River," Brooks said. "They [the Iraqi forces] are in serious trouble, and they remain in contact now with the most powerful force on earth," Brooks said. In a separate operation, U.S. Army Rangers, Navy SEALS, Air Force pilots and combat controllers, and U.S. Marines staged a daring nighttime raid into the town of An Nasiriyah to rescue Army Private First Class Jessica Lynch, who was being held as a prisoner of war at the Saddam Hospital, Brooks said. "There was not a fire fight inside of the building, I will tell you, but there were fire fights outside of the building, getting in and getting out," he said. The building was being used by Iraqi forces as a military command post, he said. "There were no coalition casualties as a result of this. And in the destruction that occurred inside of the building, particularly in the basement area, where the operations centers had been, we found ammunition, mortars, maps, a terrain model, and other things that make it very clear that it was being used as a military command post," Brooks said. Brooks said the U.S. strike forces also found the remains of 11 persons who are still unidentified. "Two of the persons were inside of a morgue within the hospital building, and the other nine were outside in a grave area inside the community," he said. Brooks said forensic examinations are being performed on the remains to determine who they might be. He said Fifth Corps units also attacked to clear paramilitary forces from An Najaf. "The attacking unit was welcomed by thousands of citizens," Brooks said. "It was also welcomed by fire from regime forces who had positioned themselves inside the Ali Mosque, one of the most important religious shrines to all of Shi'a Islam throughout the world." He added that coalition forces continue to protect sacred religious and historic sites, and are refusing to return fire at the Iraqi regime forces in the Mosque. "The Iraqi regime's use of the Ali Mosque for military purposes is just the latest example of the regime's continued strategy of placing sacred sites in Iraq in jeopardy," a CENTCOM statement said. Brooks said coalition special operations forces also seized the Hadithah dam, an important dam that could have been used to flood the Euphrates River leading down toward Baghdad, and particularly in the area of Karbala. If the dam had been destroyed by Iraqi forces it could have hampered and even trapped some coalition forces, he said. British forces continue to secure the Al Faw peninsula and the Ar Rumaylah oil fields while destroying any remaining resistance in the south, he said. "Among their recent successes are the capturing of five cruise missiles of the Styx variety near Ash Shuaybah Airport," he said. And British forces captured a motorcycle courier and an assistant who had maps in their possession that showed artillery positions, Brooks said. "The U.K. [United Kingdom] forces went to find the artillery positions, found them, destroyed all the artillery, and also found three Ababil-100 missiles and destroyed them as well," he said. Coalition forces currently hold more than 4,500 enemy prisoners of war, Brooks said, "and we treat them according to the Geneva Conventions." The International Committee of the Red Cross has already begun visiting the prisoners at coalition prison camps near Umm Qasr, he said.