Baghdad's main airport has come under intensive artillery fire from US forces this evening, as armoured units advanced to within six miles of the Iraqi capital.
The reuters news agency is reporting that dozens of Iraqis have been killed in a village between the capital and the airport due to the barrage of artillery and rocket attacks.
Iraqi officials have put the total death toll in the village of Furat at 83, but this could not be independently confirmed.
Four elite Republican Guard divisions are reported to be moving southwards to defend the city.
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz has said that advancing US-led forces would not be able to take over Baghdad and promised a 'huge and costly' war.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi capital has been plunged into darkness for the first time since the war began two weeks ago.
Rumsfeld calls for Iraqi revolt
The Defense Secretary of the United States, Donald Rumsfeld, has called on Iraqi military officers to turn against the government of President Saddam Hussein.
Mr Rumsfeld made the call during a Pentagon briefing, during which military leaders claimed US-led forces had now taken 45% of Iraqi territory.
Mr Rumsfeld said there was no way out for senior military leaders but the same was not true for the Iraqi armed forces.
US president George W Bush said his troops were on the advance and 'they will accept nothing less than complete and final victory'.
Mr Bush said that a vice was closing and the days of a brutal regime were coming to an end.
Iraqi Foreign Minister criticises Annan
Iraq's Foreign Minister, Naji Sabri, has attacked UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, saying he had helped the US-led invasion in which he said some 1,250 Iraqi civilians had been killed since 20 March.
In other developments, Kurdish fighters are reported to be driving Iraqis back to the northern city of Mosul. And Reuters is reporting that a prominent Shi-ite Muslim cleric has issued an edict urging Iraqis to remain calm and not to hinder the coalition forces.
At least 677 Iraqis killed
The latest available estimates from the Iraqi leadership say that at least 677 Iraqi civilians have been killed and 5,062 injured in the last two weeks.
According to Anglo-American military figures, 53 US soldiers have been killed, while there are 12 missing. Seven were possibly killed in a helicopter crash.
Twenty-seven British soldiers have been killed – six in action, 16 in accidents and five in 'friendly fire'.
There are no available figures for Iraqi military casualties.
