Week's events
Thursday 3 April
US forces were approximately 32 kilometres outside Baghdad early Thursday, after shattering two divisions of the Republican Guard, US officials said.
A US Army Black Hawk helicopter was shot down by Iraqi small arms fire near Karbala, south of Baghdad, killing seven soldiers and injuring four others on board.
US television networks said a US FA-18C fighter bomber was shot down over southern Iraq, also near Karbala by a surface-to-air missile; the fate of the pilot was unknown.
A land mine explosion killed a BBC journalist and injured another in northern Iraq.
A US tank fired without warning at a bus in Al-Hillah, south of Baghdad, injuring the 20 civilian passengers on board.
Eight civilians died and five were wounded by a missile that hit a vegetable market at Nahrawan on the southeastern edge of Baghdad.
Friday 4 April
Iraqi TV showed Saddam Hussein visiting bombed areas of Baghdad. He also appeared on TV reading a statement to the nation that mentioned a US Apache helicopter which was downed on 24 March, suggesting he survived initial attacks.
Explosions and heavy machine-gun fire rocked Baghdad, as thousands of residents fled the city after US troops seized Saddam International Airport and renamed it Baghdad International Airport. More than 400 Iraqis were killed during armed conflict north and east of the airport.
Electricity and water remained cut off after more overnight bombings in Baghdad.
A car exploded near a coalition checkpoint in western Iraq, killing three coalition soldiers, a pregnant woman and the driver of the car.
British forces said they killed eight Iraqi militiamen in a street battle on the edge of Basra, a city they have been besieging for some two weeks.
US troops moved into the centre of the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf and tightened their grip on Nasseriya.
Michael Kelly, editor-at-large for the US magazine The Atlantic Monthly, became the first American journalist to die in the conflict.
Médecins Sans Frontières, the Nobel prize-winning aid agency, announced it had suspended its activities in Iraq after two of its workers went missing in Baghdad on Wednesday.
Saturday 5 April
Baghdad shuddered under incessant bombing as coalition warplanes struck the city centre and southern outskirts.
Members of the Fedayeen, led by Saddam's son Uday, appeared in downtown of Baghdad for the first time since the war began.
Military sources say US forces seized the headquarters of the Medina Division of the Republican Guard southeast of Baghdad.
Coalition aircraft conducted strikes on the Basra residence of Ali Hassan Al-Majid, a member of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's inner circle.
US aircraft and troops attacked Karbala.
US forces headed towards Iraqi lines on the road to Mosul.
According to PUK sources US special forces and Iraqi Kurds cut off the southern exits from the northern oil centre of Kirkuk.
US Marines at a checkpoint south of Baghdad fired on a truck that refused to stop, killing an unknown number of civilians. An ABC news reporter embedded with the Marine unit said that seven civilians in cars behind the truck were killed, including three children.
Sunday 6 April
The First US aircraft, a C-130 military transporter, landed at Baghdad Airport, according to a US military source.
A convoy travelling with the Russian ambassador, diplomats and journalists came under fire as it was leaving Baghdad.
A US plane mistakenly bombed a convoy of US special forces and Kurdish fighters killing up to 18 and wounding 45, including the brother of Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani.
In Karbala, US troops pushed into the centre of the holy Shi'ite Muslim city after fierce battles with Iraqi paramilitaries.
The US warned that Syria will be held accountable for allegedly sending military supplies to support Iraq.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that a General Assembly meeting would be convened on Iraq on Monday in response to Arab envoys' calls.
UN relief agencies, including the World Health Organisation and the International Committee for the Red Cross, warned of a health disaster in Baghdad.
Monday 7 April
US forces moved into Baghdad and seized several presidential palaces including Saddam's main official residence.
At least nine civilians were killed when a US missile crashed into a residential neighbourhood in central Baghdad.
US warplanes struck a building in the Al-Mansour neighbourhood of Baghdad where US believe Iraqi leaders, including Saddam and his sons, were meeting.
Kurdish peshmergha fighters and US forces advanced south towards Mosul capturing the small town of Faida on the way.
Countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council wrapped up an extraordinary meeting in Kuwait that focussed on the prospects for post-war Iraq.
Iraqi opposition leader Ahmed Chalabi arrived in Southern Iraqi town of Nasseriya with 700 Iraqi National Congress fighters.
The UN General Assembly meeting failed to convene due to lack-lustre support from developing countries.
The Red Cross said conditions are "terrible" in Baghdad's hospitals.
US and UK presidents met over dinner at the start of a two-day summit in Belfast.
Tuesday 8 April:
Tarek Ayoub, a reporter for the Al-Jazeera network, was killed in a US strike on the station's offices in Baghdad. A Reuters journalist was also killed and another four wounded when a US tank fired at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad which hosted the foreign media.
Hundreds of families fled Baghdad as the city came under intensive US bombing and US forces battled Iraqi fighters.
A coalition A-10 "Warthog" warplane was shot down near Baghdad in what was believed to be the first downing of a Coalition aircraft by an Iraqi surface-to-air missile.
Wednesday 9 April:
Reports of US troops advancing through the heart of Baghdad meeting little Iraqi resistance.
US troops bomb Tikrit and other northern cities.
Compiled by Rasha Saad
