- U.S. troops fought Iraqi militia and Republican Guard units near the site of ancient Babylon on Monday in what is thought to be the closest land battle yet to Baghdad. On a front about 70 miles south of the capital, U.S. forces said they advanced to the outskirts of the city of Hilla after fierce fighting in which many Iraqis and at least one American were killed.
- There was also action around a bridge over the Euphrates river at Hindiya, just 80 km from Baghdad, where U.S. troops encountered Iraqis firing from buildings and foxholes dug in along a road through the date-growing region. A military official told Reuters that U.S. forces took control of a jailhouse at Hindiya and found maps for the defense of the city, detailing where Iraqi forces were camped.
- As an intense artillery barrage opened up on Baghdad's southern outskirts on Monday, some U.S. ground units seem to be probing toward the capital, attacking Iraqi defenders, including elite Republican Guards. They are also keeping Iraqis guessing about where the bulk of U.S. troops in the west may cross the Euphrates. "We're coming. Where the regime is, we're coming," U.S. Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a briefing in Qatar. He said some Republican Guard units were in "serious difficulty."
- Fighting around Imam Aiyub, several km south of Hilla on the eastern, or Baghdad, side of the Euphrates, began at around 7 a.m. Hilla, with a population of 300,000, is the main city between Imam Aiyub and Baghdad.
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