OUR LIBERATORS: Iraqi youngsters greet the US tank column in Baghdad

BLASTED: Shattered tank at roadside

FLYING ALONG: The column has a choice: Baghdad city centre or airport

DESTROYED: Tanks pass blazing lorry

SUICIDE ATTACK: Bullets rip through car which tried to ram the tank column

IT MISSED: The car - perhaps loaded with explosives - rams central barrier

DNA TEAM IN HUNT FOR SADDAM

SPECIAL forces operating in Baghdad have mobile DNA testing kits to instantly confirm the capture of Saddam Hussein. British and American intelligence are convinced the dictator is still alive and want to capture or kill him to emphasise a Coalition victory. But they fear Saddam might try to dupe them with one of his many body doubles while he flees to safety. The kits allow British or US special forces to take a saliva sample to compare instantly with DNA already obtained from Saddam's daughters Raghda and Rana. DNA was taken in Jordan when the women accompanied their husbands who defected there in 1995. Bunker A senior military source said: "You can be sure we will know if we have the real Saddam Hussein." British intelligence believes Saddam is still in Iraq, possibly hiding in a bunker beneath a palace in east Baghdad or in his home town of Tikrit 110 miles away. They also believe the Saddam shown in a walkabout in the Iraqi capital on Friday was a body double. The despot's family may already have fled to a luxury hotel in the port city of Latakiya, Syria. Iraq's former chief of staff Nizar al-Khazraji said Saddam would "fight to the last breath or commit suicide if hostile forces get close to him".

ALLIED tanks sliced the city of Baghdad in two yesterday—and their crews were greeted as heroes.

Families of Iraqis cheered and waved as a column of US armour took an astonishing cruise through the city.

Some surrendering Iraqi soldiers leapt on to the tanks, begging to be made prisoners of war.

The reaction of the people proved that Saddam's 24-year reign of tyranny was on its last legs.

Twenty US Abrams tanks and 10 Bradley armoured vehicles swept into the city from the south just 16 days and 14 hours after the first bombs of the war fell on the capital.

Operation Thunder Run came within TWO MILES of Saddam's bunker before swinging west to link up with US forces who had captured Baghdad airport.

As the incursion went ahead US Marines were fighting with FIXED BAYONETS on the city's outskirts.

A platoon clashed in hand-to-hand combat in a reed-covered marsh with pro-Saddam volunteers from Jordan, Egypt and Sudan.

Fierce

US Col B.P. McCoy said: "It's like a jihad. They were given a rifle and told to become martyrs."

Back in the city, the column of tanks had faced fierce resistance as well as cheers.

Before reaching the airport it left behind 30 burned-out T72 tanks and 1,000 dead Republican Guards.

US Colonel David Perkins said: "We attacked down Route 8 and we attacked all the way through the city. We basically own the main road going into Baghdad, so we've cut the city in half. There was some very intense fighting."

The Abrams were attacked with shells, rocket propelled grenades and machine guns. One Saddam supporter was riddled with bullets as he tried to ram a tank in his car— perhaps a suicide bomb attack. Even a fire engine attacked the column— and was obliterated.

American journalist Greg Kelly was with the US tanks. Describing one man surrendering, he said: "Troops are telling him to lay down his weapons and get on the deck. It's the first time we've seen that." Later he shouted: "Watch out! there's a guy, don't shoot him! Another surrendering. Unbelievable."

One tank was set on fire in an underpass. As the crew tackled the blaze the commander sat on his turret, coolly taking cowboy-style potshots at Iraqis fighters with his 9mm pistol.

The Freedom Drive came on a day of success for the Coalition. But top brass—still nervous of a last-ditch chemical warfare attack—refused to say the war was nearly over.

Forceful

And the Americans are determined to take the battle into Baghdad if necessary.

"We're not going to tip-toe into the city, it will be a forceful knock-out punch every time we go in," said Marine Captain Matt Watt.

"We'll make sure there's no capability for the enemy to resist us, we'll go in shooting up every time."

But many Iraqis believe it will soon be all over. "This is it," said Nour Khaled, 48, a mother of two. "We're confronting the mightiest army in the world."

The mood was similar across Iraq. In Aziziyah cheering residents handed out cans of Coke and cigarettes to Marines entering the town.

Children held out flowers to passing Marines.

Iraqi soldiers and senior officials of Saddam's Ba'ath Party fled two days ago. Yesterday the delighted people made throat-slitting gestures at pictures of the dictator.

IN LONDON Prime Minister Tony Blair was told at a War Cabinet meeting of the collapse of the Republican Guard,

But he was warned by Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon there was still a tough battle ahead.