US and British forces smashed Baghdad with a quick and intense air raid, raining bombs and missiles as allied troops crossed the Euphrates River and advanced on the Iraqi capital. The second night of heavy bombardment in Baghdad began around 2030 GMT Saturday, and several neighborhoods were plunged into darkness, an AFP reporter on the scene said.

Multiple massive explosions erupted before apparently cutting power to sections of the city, still shaken by the first night of the all-out bombing campaign, which Iraq said, left three dead and 207 injured.

On the ground, US and British forces said thousands of Iraqi troops had surrendered, but the allies said they encountered stiff resistance in some parts of the desert.

In Washington, the Pentagon said secret "discussions" were under way with members of the Iraqi high command and that there was still time for them "to do the right thing."

Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke would not elaborate on the contacts except to say that the United States has been holding "a variety of conversations and discussions" with Iraqi leaders, telling them, "End this now. Save your lives, save the Iraqi people's lives.'"

On their way north, allied forces captured the key southern city of Nasiriyah, a third of the way to Baghdad, giving them access across the River Euphrates and the road towards the capital, the Pentagon spokeswoman said.

Earlier Saturday, Washington finally dropped plans to open up a northern front from Turkey after Turkey's parliament, which opened its air space to allied planes, refused to allow troops to cross its soil.

Some 25 ships carrying the US Army's 4th Infantry Division's heavy hardware, waiting to disembark in Turkey, came about and headed for the Gulf via the Suez Canal and Red Sea, a several days' journey.

The division's troops have not yet left their base in Fort Hood, Texas.

US Army General Tommy Franks, who is orchestrating the assault from the Southern Command base in Qatar, said troops advancing on the capital were bypassing the strategic southeastern city of Basra, Iraq's second city and its principal port, a key to its oil exports.

"Our intent is not to move through and create a military confrontation in that city," Franks told a press conference.

Troops had spotted no major concentration of Iraqi firepower in Basra and would prefer to work with civilians there "who are welcoming the forces as they come in," Franks said.

Speaking alongside Franks at the command centre in Qatar, US Army Brigadier General Vince Brooks said forces were moving fast towards Baghdad.

Franks said allies had taken 1,000-2,000 Iraqi prisoners of war in the opening days of their drive north to Baghdad, and that thousands of others had "laid down their arms and gone home."

Franks admitted that the whereabouts of Saddam, whom President George W. Bush has vowed to drive from power, remained a mystery. The Iraqi leader was shown on Baghdad television late Saturday meeting with his war council.

"I have no idea where he is right now," Franks said. "I imagine we'll know more in the days ahead."

Dispelling speculation of his possible injury or death, Iraqi television showed Saddam in military uniform, meeting with his war council at an unspecified location.

His aides, said the television, "voiced satisfaction at the resistance and heroism displayed by the armed forces, fighters of the Baath Party and tribesmen."

Bush met with his own war council for an hour and a half early Saturday at the secluded Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains, 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Washington.

And he conferred by telephone for half an hour with close ally British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who got a domestic lift from a poll showing British public opinion was finally shifting in his favor on the war.

Bush earlier warned, in his weekly radio address, that despite the horrific force of what the so-called "shock and awe" campaign to crush Saddam's regime, the conflict could last longer than many people expect.

US Marines were meanwhile locked in fighting in the southern port of Umm Qasr, defended by Iraqi commandos, some in civilian clothes, a Marine officer said.

"The city is under control, but there are various organized groups offering resistance on the outskirts," Lieutenant Colonel Steve Holmes said.

In Baghdad, Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf said the Iraqi military had inflicted "heavy losses" on US and British troops while repelling attacks in southern Iraq

PHOTO CAPTION

British soldiers assess damage caused on Iraqi trench positions as the bodies of two Iraqi soldiers remain in their trench with a white flag, following the British assault on the Fao peninsula in southern Iraq (AFP-Pool/Stephen Hird)