"We're now engaging the Republican Guard divisions defending the outskirts of Baghdad, and irregular forces throughout the south supporting the Iraqi regime," Stanley McChrystal, vice director of joint operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a regular Pentagon briefing.

"We've moved to within 30 miles of Baghdad, but there remains tough fighting ahead," he added.

McChrystal said that US and British aircraft flew more than 1,000 sorties over Iraq on Tuesday and the focus of the air operations was on Iraqi leadership targets, Republican Guard divisions and countering missile threats.

He said coalition forces have fired more than 700 cruise missiles and have now expended over 10,000 precision-guided munitions since the war began on March 19.

Asked to comment on the reported destruction of the Baghdad division of Iraq's elite Republican Guard by coalition forces, McChrystal provided a cautious assessment.

"Clearly, there are pockets of resistance still capable within that organization. And the contact we've seen earlier today (Wednesday) has been described as sporadic but not able to stop coalition maneuver," he added.

The Baghdad Division, which operated in the strategic town of Kuk leading to Baghdad, is one of the six divisions of the Republican Guard defending the Iraqi capital.

(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2003)