The Iraqi information minister, Mohammad Saeed al-Sahaf promised Friday that his nation's military would launch an "unconventional" counterattack against the invasion troops. "We will do something which I believe is very beautiful," said Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf at a Baghdad news conference, adding that the Iraqis planned to strike back "in an unconventional way." Asked if that meant the use of chemical weapons or other weapons of mass destruction, he quickly said no.

"What I meant are commando and martyrdom operations in a very new, creative way," al-Sahhaf said.

U.S. armored units, backed by warplanes; head earlier seized control of Baghdad's airport. And 2,500 Republican Guard soldiers south of the capital surrendered to Marines, American officials said.

Resistance Bombing Kills 3 American Soldiers in Western Iraq

In western Iraq, some 130 kilometers from the Syrian border, a car exploded at a checkpoint, killing three US soldiers, the driver and a pregnant woman who had emerged from the car screaming in fear, U.S. officials said. Central Command said it appeared to be 'a suicide' attack, similar to the bombing at a checkpoint in south-central Iraq last week that killed four U.S. soldiers.

Another soldier and an embedded reporter were killed when a Humvee went into a canal, said Navy Lt. Herlinda Rojas, a spokeswoman at Coalition Press Information Center in Kuwait City. No time, location or details about the fatal accident were provided.

PHOTO CAPTION
A resistance bomber appears on Arabic television network al-Jazeera, which showed a tape April 4, 2003, which was made by two Iraqi women before they set off a resistance car bomb that killed three soldiers, a pregnant woman and the driver, northwest of Baghdad. /al-Jazeera/HO - Apr 03 9:46 PM ET