IT146;S GULF WAR-II

It was the second round of US attacks after Saddam defied a US ultimatum to leave the country. The previous raid at dawn with cruise missiles and Stealth aircraft, which took even ally Britain by surprise, was an opportunist hit, aimed to kill Saddam and his entourage.

Announcing the start of a campaign to oust Saddam and disarm Iraq, US President George Bush said 8216;8216;selected targets8217;8217; were hit. 8216;8216;These are the opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign,8217;8217; Bush said in a televised address.

He said the US military would seek a swift victory while trying to avoid civilian casualties. But he warned the conflict could be 8216;8216;longer and more difficult than some predict.8217;8217;

British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon also said the war might not be won quickly.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said the US raids hit empty buildings and civilian districts. One civilian was killed and several wounded. 8216;8216;The rulers of America are announcing that they are assassins,8217;8217; Sahaf said of the US attempt to kill Saddam.

US officials said the aim of the raids was to 8216;8216;decapitate8217;8217; the Iraqi government. They said Saddam and other key leaders had been pinpointed by US intelligence agencies, prompting a swift air attack that could have changed the course of the war. A British military source said the main offensive was about to begin.

Late tonight, units of the US Marine First Expeditionary Force crossed from Kuwait into southern Iraq to begin securing positions for a thrust northward by US and British troops massed in Kuwait near the border, US officials said.

The Kuwaiti news agency said US-led troops had captured the Iraqi border town of Umm Qasr.

A number of Iraqi troops, who had been laying a mine field, surrendered to US Marines who had just crossed into Iraq, a CBS radio reporter travelling with the unit said.

An AFP report from Washington quoted the US State department as saying that the US had formally asked governments worldwide to shut down Iraqi embassies and diplomatic missions in their respective countries until new authorities are in power in Baghdad.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the initial missile and bombing attacks in and around Baghdad were just a first taste of what would soon be unleashed.

8216;8216;What will follow will not be a repeat of any other conflict. It will be of a force and scope and scale that has been beyond what has been seen before,8217;8217; he said.

As night fell in Baghdad, eyewitnesses told Reuters that US forces had launched a new artillery attack near the Iraq-Kuwait border, and large explosions were reported in the direction of the Iraqi city of Basra.

8216;8216;There has been another intense barrage,8217;8217; said Reuters correspondent David Fox from near the border. 8216;8216;The first lot of big explosions came from the direction of Basra and then there were more to west of that.8217;8217;

Other reporters saw US missiles strike areas in southern Iraq as well as helicopter gunships firing at ground targets. About 280,000 US and British troops are in the Gulf region, many of them in Kuwait, poised to invade Iraq.

Iraq responded to the first US attack with several missile strikes on northern Kuwait. All missed their targets or were intercepted by US missiles.

The Iraqis also said they shot down a US helicopter but there was no confirmation. Saddam appeared on television three hours after the first strikes on Baghdad, denouncing the 8216;8216;criminal, reckless little Bush.8217;8217; He urged Iraqis to resist the coming US invasion and promised a historic victory.

Rumsfeld said there was some debate as to whether the man that appeared was really Saddam or one of his doubles, but some viewers were convinced the voice was authentic.

Rumsfeld urged Iraqi citizens to stay in their homes and told Iraqi troops to disobey any orders to use chemical weapons or destroy oil wells. He said those who surendered would have a place in a future free Iraq but those who fought would share Saddam8217;s fate.

Rumsfeld also said Iraq may have set fire to three or four oil wells in the south of the country. Kuwait television reported that several oil wells near Basra had been set alight by Iraqi troops. Iraqi Oil Minister Amir Muhammed Rasheed denied the reports.

Reaction to the US attack was swift and largely negative, as nations that had opposed the American effort to disarm Iraq decried the conflict and Arab protesters took to the streets.

Three hours after the raids began, a grim-faced Saddam appeared on state television in military uniform, black beret and thick-rimmed glasses.

8216;8216;The criminal little Bush has committed a crime against humanity,8217;8217; he said, reading from notes.

Several hours after the first US raids on Baghdad, a Kuwaiti Defence ministry spokesman said an Iraqi Scud and two smaller missiles hit northern Kuwait. US Marines said one missile landed near their desert camp.

A Kuwaiti Defence ministry spokesman said a US Patriot anti-missile defence battery brought down two Iraqi Scuds. Reuters