Iraq's defense minister said the real battle for Baghdad will be on its streets, and that the regime will prolong the war as long as possible. "The enemy must come inside Baghdad, and that will be its grave," said Defense Minister Sultan Hashem Ahmed. "We feel that this war must be prolonged so the enemy pays a high price," he said at a news conference at a downtown Baghdad hotel.

Ahmed said he expected that U.S.-led forces would manage to encircle Baghdad within five to 10 days but they would then have to face fierce street fighting that could last months.

"We set up our defenses in Baghdad. It will be no surprise that in five to 10 days they will be able to encircle all our positions in Baghdad. They have the capability to do so," he told a news conference.

"But they have to come into the city eventually...God willing, Baghdad will be impregnable. We will fight to the end and everywhere. History will record how well Iraqis performed in defense of their capital," Ahmed said.

Asked whether the fighting in Baghdad will be on the streets, Ahmed replied, "Yes." He called the two-day sandstorm that engulfed Iraq this week and slowed the U.S.-led forces "a divine gift to tell the aggressor that he is an aggressor."

44 Invading Coalition Troops Killed, 12 Missing

The Iraqi armed forces said in a communiqué? they had killed nine more troops over the past 24 hours and had destroyed 10 tanks and 13 armored personnel carriers.

According to the latest official count, the US and Britain have lost a total of 44 troops killed and 12 missing.
'No Ceasefire,' Says Rumsfeld

Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has insisted there will be no ceasefire in the war. "I have no idea what some country might propose but there isn't going to be a ceasefire," he said.

Rumsfeld also gave a new warning that bitter fighting could be expected as US and British troops closed in on Baghdad.

"The so-called Republican Guard forces are ringing Baghdad some 40-50 miles (65-80kms) away from it, and very likely that will be some of the toughest fighting that will occur, and that's yet ahead of us," he told reporters.

He said the Republican Guard had also formed a ring around Saddam's home city of Tikrit in the north of Iraq.

"One has to recognize that the regular forces have been more inclined to not defend the regime to the end. And the Republican Guard have been more inclined to defend the regime, although that's not 100 per cent.

"It's only reasonable to expect that it will require the coalition forces moving through some Republican Guard units and destroying them or capturing them before you'll see the crumbling of the regime."

Rumsfeld reaffirmed administration warnings of a long conflict and that US and British forces "are still closer to the beginning than the end."

Other Key Developments in the War in Iraq

* _ U.S. and British warplanes bombed Iraqi targets north and south on Thursday and hit Republican Guard units trying to blunt the advance on Baghdad. After a large dust storm finally lifted, more than 600 bombing missions were carried out over Iraq during the day.

* _ U.S. Central Command said coalition strikes overnight took out communications and command and control facilities in the capital.

* _ Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld suggested that U.S. forces might lay siege to Baghdad in hopes citizens will rise up against the government before American troops have to invade the city of 5 million.

* _ Eleven Marines from the 2nd Expeditionary Force were listed as missing within the past 24 hours and 14 as wounded in action, Camp Lejeune, N.C., officials said Thursday. The troops had most recently been fighting near An Nasiriyah.

* _ President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged to keep their forces in Iraq however long it takes to overthrow Saddam Hussein. They said the U.N. could help rebuild postwar Iraq, but left uncertain who would create and run a new government.

* _ Blair spoke of "the depravity of Saddam's regime" in reference to TV pictures of two British soldiers he said were executed. Al-Jazeera defended the airing the photos, saying it had a duty to show the world casualties on all sides in the Iraq war.

* _ Iraqi state television reported that Saddam chaired a meeting of the ruling Baath Party, his top aides and his son, Qusai. Silent video was shown of another meeting of Saddam, Qusai and other party officials.

* _ The 4th Infantry Division begins moving out from its bases in Colorado and Texas, heading for Kuwait to lead a task force of 30,000 troops that will bolster U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

* _ John Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, walked out of a debate on the Iraqi war Thursday after Iraq's ambassador accused Washington of planning the military assault for years. Representatives of the 15 council members managed to agree on a draft resolution allowing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to take control of some aspects of the oil-for-food humanitarian program for 45 days.

* _ A reporter for The Christian Science Monitor was ordered out of Iraq after the Pentagon said he revealed the location of a Marine unit during a television interview.

* _ British officials postponed a sea borne relief operation after discovering Iraqi mines in the channel leading to the port of Umm Qasr. Supplies were not expected to reach land until Friday.

* _ Iraq's health minister Thursday said 36 civilians were killed and 215 wounded in U.S. air strikes on Baghdad a day earlier, and he accused U.S.-led forces of deliberately targeting civilians to break the people's will.

* _ Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iraqi troops had executed some American prisoners of war. An Iraqi government statement accused U.S. forces of taking civilians as POWs and mocked coalition leaders over expectations for a swift end to the war.

* _ Hundreds of chanting anti-war demonstrators lined Manhattan's Fifth Avenue on Thursday and dozens lay down in the street to begin a day of planned civil disobedience actions. About 150 people were arrested.

PHOTO CAPTION

Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashed Ahmed, left, addresses a news conference in a Baghdad hotel Sunday, March 23, 2003. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)