Helicopters Collide In Persian Gulf
Two British Navy helicopters collided over international waters in the Persian Gulf, and six crew members and an American who was on board are missing and presumed dead.
A Pentagon spokesperson tells CBS News that a U.S. Navy officer was the American aboard one of the two British helicopters that went down.
Group Capt. Al Lockwood, a spokesman for British forces in the Gulf, said the collision involved Sea King search and rescue helicopters.
The collision, which is the second helicopter accident since Operation Iraqi Freedom began.
On Friday, eight British Royal Marines and four American Marines died when a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Kuwait as troops were being deployed to seize oil fields on the Al Faw peninsula in southern Iraq.
The U.S. death toll for the war in Iraq now stands at seven, including the victims of both helicopter crashes, and two separate battles on the ground on Friday.
Commenting on Saturday's collision, Lockwood said a search is in progress to find the missing crew members.
"We are doing everything we can to ascertain what caused the accident," he told Sky News.
The accident happened at around 4:30 a.m. local time Saturday. Lockwood said the collision was not the result of enemy fire.
Also today, an American soldier was wounded in a battle between U.S. and Iraqi forces near the town of Al Nasiriyah. CBS News Reporter Phil Ittner, on the scene with the 3rd Infantry Division, says the battle is now over, U.S. forces defeated the 11th Iraqi Light Infantry unit, took prisoners, and are now checking to see if any of their prisoners are members of Iraq's Republican Guard. The U.S. soldier who was injured was wounded by sniper fire.
Earlier Saturday, sirens and two large explosions were heard at daybreak in Baghdad, the morning after the Iraqi capital endured the most ferocious attack of the war.
Sky News Correspondent David Chater reports constant jet over-flights even as the sun begins to come up in the city.
The Saturday morning raid followed a massive U.S. aerial assault that left fires raging inside Saddam Hussein's Old Palace compound and a halo of smoke hanging in the sky.
CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin reports the U.S. plans attacks on 1,000 targets throughout Iraq over the next 24 hours, using 600 cruise missiles and virtually every type of warplane in the American arsenal, including the B-2 stealth bomber.
The effort to demoralize Iraqi leadership appeared to be paying off. The Pentagon says an entire division of the Iraqi army, numbering 8,000 soldiers, surrendered to coalition forces in southern Iraq early Saturday local time.
Iraq's 51st Infantry Division surrendered as U.S. and British forces advanced toward Basra, Iraq's second largest city. The mechanized division had about 200 tanks before the war, according to independent analysts and U.S. officials.
In other major developments:
Friday's attack, punctuated by the blasts of Tomahawk missiles striking targets across Baghdad, was launched just after 9 p.m. local time. The assault involved 320 cruise missiles launched from ships in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, according to Rear Adm. Matthew G. Moffit, commander of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk battle group.
Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Richard Myers said the U.S.-led coalition had "launched a massive air campaign across Iraq." He said the war was now "fully under way."
The Pentagon said the air campaign was having a major impact on Saddam's regime.
"The regime is starting to lose control of their country," said Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.
The Iraqi regime released a video of Saddam in his uniform meeting with his son Qusai, the commander of the Republican Guard, and the defense minister, Gen. Sultan Hashim Ahmad, but it was unclear when the video was made.
Intelligence officials remain convinced Saddam and his two sons were in a compound in southeastern Baghdad when two F-117 stealth fighters dropped four 2,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on it. But his condition and location remain unknown.
On the ground, U.S. Marines seized a portion of the main road leading from Kuwait into Basra, and the American flag was raised over the port city of Umm Qasr, where the second U.S. Marine died. U.S. and British forces also took over the town of Safwan.
"Clearly, we're moving towards our objective. But we must not get too comfortable," Myers said. "There are still many unknowns out there."
Myers said that in the last 24 hours, coalition forces had seized an airfield in western Iraq, secured the main oil conduits in the southern al-Faw peninsula and boarded three tugboats loaded in the Persian Gulf.
CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassman, reporting from the headquarters of the 101st Airborne, said American commanders now feel the risk of Iraq unleashing chemical weapons is greater than ever. None have been used so far.
Special forces and soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division seized control of a bridge over the Euphrates river, near the Tallil air base. The 3rd Infantry has covered a third of the distance to Baghdad in less than a day. But it ran into resistance from elements of the Republican Guard near the town of Al-Nasiryah.
It was unclear if the quick progress of allied troops indicated that Iraq's defenses were collapsing, or merely that Iraq had pulled its men and materiel back to offer a stiff defense of Baghdad and other major cities.
As of Saturday, though, U.S. and British forces appeared to have secured almost all the main oil facilities in southern Iraq, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Fuss.
President Bush briefed congressional leaders Friday and said the war was going well.
"We are making progress," he said as lawmakers gathered in the Oval Office at midmorning.
He also said he was "extremely proud of the skill and bravery of our young Americans who are willing to sacrifice for something greater than themselves."
Later, the president formally notified Congress that he had ordered military action, in accordance with the War Powers Act. Mr. Bush then headed off to Camp David for the weekend under more intense security than usual.