Allied Forces Mount Southern Assault

U.S. Marines ran into mortar fire as they took control of the main highway leading from Kuwait to the key port city of Basra, at the heart of Iraq's southern oil facilities. British forces said they ran into "stiff resistance" as they moved against Umm Qasr to the south.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Marine killed in Iraq became the first reported combat death of the war, defense officials said Friday.

The slain soldier, of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, was moving in the ground assault in southern Iraq, said Lt. Col. Neal Peckham, a British military spokesman in Kuwait.

The incident came hours after eight British and four U.S. soldiers died in a U.S. Marine helicopter crash. A British military spokesman said the crash was an accident.

Thick smoke filled the skies from fires at some of the many oil wells and processing facilities in the region, where pipelines funnel Iraq's economic lifeblood through the al-Faw peninsula to the Persian Gulf.

Iraqi troops set fire to 30 of the hundreds of oil wells in the region, British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said. Iraq has 1,685 oil wells and exported 2 million barrels daily before the war.

The peninsula was taken in the very first hours of the ground war.

Hoon called the peninsula's capture "certainly a significant strategic success. It means that we have a bridgehead from which to operate, but crucially it means that part of the plan of the Iraqi authorities to destroy their oil wealth has been averted."

American and British troops encountered both hostile fire and white flags in their race across the desert, with some 200 Iraqi soldiers surrendering to the U.S. 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit just over an hour after it crossed the border from northern Kuwait.

Holding back on a massive air assault, the allied force has been using pinpoint airstrikes and a lightning-fast ground assault as efforts intensify to get Iraqi soldiers, even the Republican Guard units considered loyal to Saddam Hussein, to give up.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said direct talks were taking place with Iraqi forces and it was possible the "full force and fury of a war" could be averted.

"There are communications in every conceivable mode and method, public and private," he said after meeting lawmakers Thursday night.

A Democratic lawmaker expressed similar optimism. "The behavior of those who've not surrendered would suggest that they might," Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J., said after being briefed by military officials.

American officials said they had strong indications no one was in charge of Iraq's government and armed forces.

Military officials said no hostile fire was reported in the area of the CH-46 Sea Knight crash, which was in Kuwait about 9 miles south of the Iraqi border town of Umm Qasr.

The crash happened as U.S. Army and Marine units, joined by their British comrades in arms, surged across the Kuwaiti border into southern Iraq on Thursday and Friday, working at first to secure the region's oil wells.

Opening the ground action, Marine expedition and Army special forces were sent into Iraq to put forces in a better position to protect the oil-rich Basra region, military officials said. Later, the bulk of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division and the Marine Corps' 1st Expeditionary Force rumbled across the border into Iraq.

Small numbers of U.S. and British special forces were operating surreptitiously in other parts of the country and U.S. war planes stepped up attacks on Iraqi air defenses in the north and south in hopes of making it easier and safer for coalition aircraft when the massive aerial assault begins, officials said.

Two of the officials said Thursday's strikes involved a smaller number of Tomahawks than Wednesday's opening volley, which numbered approximately 40.

Officials said the surprise attack targeting Saddam benefited from electronic spying and other intelligence, special military operations and changes in technology that permitted military chiefs to more quickly reconfigure the cruise missiles for a special, pinpointed attack.

Coordination has never been greater among the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper.

CBS News Radio Correspondent Barry Bagnato reports the Pentagon says defense military planners are considering operational strategies to deal with any flooding forced by the Iraqi military.

Officials say if water is released into the Tigris River from upstream reservoirs, extensive flooding between Baghdad and Al Kut could occur.

Thousands of Iraqis could be displaced, adding to congestion on roads and requiring extensive humanitarian support.

Bagnato reports Iraq's strategy could include releasing a small amount of water from major dams and canals to interrupt maneuvering units.

Meahwhile, Iraq's information minister acknowledged Friday that one of Saddam Hussein's homes was hit in the U.S. bombardment, but said no one was hurt.

"They rocketed the residence of his household," Mohammed Sa'eed al-Sahhaf said at a news conference. "But thank God, they are all safe."

Al-Sahhaf lashed out at the "criminal George Bush and his gang."

"They are superpower of villains. They are superpower of Al Capone," he said. "We will not allow them to get out of this quagmire which we trapped them in. They will see their end there."

A semblance of normalcy returned to Baghdad after Thursday night's bombing.