Day 13, latest reports

Spot 1 U.S. backs Kurdish effort

    U.S. aircraft pounded Iraqi positions near Kalak, aiding Kurdish fighters as they seized territory from Saddam Hussein's fleeing troops.

Spot 2 Strategic oil center bombed

    Coalition airplanes hit targets outside Kirkuk in the heaviest and most frequent bombing around the stragetic oil center since the war began.

    Iraqi forces were fortigying positions between Kirkuk and Mosul.

Spot 3 U.S. battles for control of town

    U.S. troops and tanks encountered rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire in a raid Monday against Republican Guard defenders of Hindiyah, a key city astride the Euphrates River.

Spot 4 Marines secure air base

    Marines secured an air base that is expected to serve as a staging area.

Spot 5 Civilian killed at checkpoint

    One Iraqi man was killed and another wounded in a checkpoint incident at the south-central town of Ash-shatra

Spot 6 Stiff resistance from Iraq

    U.S. troops are still encounter stiff resistance from Saddam loyalists in and around the town.

    Marine helicopters began ferrying bottled water and tens of thousands of ready meals from Kuwait to the Jalibah Airbase in the first aid shipments to civilians here.

Spot 7 American POW rescued

    Pfc. Jessica Lynch of Palestine, W.Va., was rescued. She and 11 other U.S. soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company were ambushed nine days ago after the unit made a wrong turn near Nasiriyah.

    Two U.S. Navy pilots were rescued when their F-14 Tomcat from the USS Kitty Harwk crashed in southern Iraq.

Spot 8 Refugees pour out of city

    British forces fought skirmishes on the ourskirts of the city but were continuing to await reinforcements before attacking the central city.

    Civilians continued to pour out of the city, passing through British checkpoints in cars, donkey-drawn carts or by foot.

Spot 9 Iraqi missile downed

    A Patriot missile battery shot down an Iraqi missile before it reached Kuwait Tuesday.

Spot 10 Plane crashes off carrier

    A Navy S-3B Viking plane veered off the USS Constellation's flight deck during landing Tuesday. The two pilots ejected and were rescued by helicopter.

Spot 11 Raid aided by drugsniffing dog

    British troops using a specially trained Springer Spaniel named Buster found a huge arms cache, heroin, cocaine and suitcases full of cash. Soldiers arrested 47 Iraqis in the raid. Buster had his own protective gear in case of chemical attack: a sealed pen with an electric motor that pumps air through a gas mask filter.

Spot 12 Power, water returns to port

    Fresh water began into Umm Qasr from a pipelins in neighboring Kuwait. British troops, shedding their warlike helmets for berets, have also turned on the lights to the city for the first time in months.

BAGHDAD REGION

Spot 1 Bombs hit alleged torture site	Spot 2 Bombs fall on Republican Guard	Spot 3 Warplanes bomb Iraqi positions	Spot 4 Marines capture important bridge	Spot 5 Guards kill seven civilians	Spot 6 Marines battle Iraqis for 8 hours
Allies aircraft bombed a Baghdad complex that serves as the office of the Iraqi National Olympic Committee, where Iraqi dissidents say Saddam Hussein's son Odai runs a torture center.	Bombing south of Baghdad, probably against Republican Guard positions resumed at daylight Tuesday.	Warplanes struck Iraqi positions.     At Central Command in Qatar, official said U.S. forces captured an Iraqi general.     The first major ground battle with Iraq's Republican Guard troops began here as U.S. Army units battled parts of the Medina Division.	U.S. marines, backed by artillery and two B-52 heavy bombers, captured a key canal bridge. There were dozen civilians killed in air strikes.	U.S. soldiers killed seven women and children in a checkpoint when it fails to stop after guards fired warning shots.     After a night of air strikes, the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Diviswion pushed into the center of this city.	Marines fought an 8-hour battle with Iraqis, who were firing artillery, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms. The preliminary toll: 90 Iraqis killed; 44 captured; no U.S. killed.

(Source: USA today, updated 9:59 pm ET, April 1)