'Seek And Destroy' In 'Ambush Alley'

Thousands of U.S. Marines pushed north toward Baghdad in "seek and destroy" missions Sunday, trying to open the route to the Iraqi capital and stop days of attacks along a stretch that has become known as "Ambush Alley."

Fierce fighting was underway meanwhile in Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, bringing U.S. Apache helicopters into direct contact with Iraqi forces firing mortars, according to field reports.

Charging into previously unsecured areas, U.S. Marines tried to provoke attacks in order to find Iraqi fighters and defeat them. Yet, a chaplain traveling with them handed out humanitarian packages to distrustful Iraqi civilians encountered along the way.

As CBS News Correspondent John Roberts reports, these humanitarian aid missions are becoming more prevalent.

"The last couple of days and for the next few days or in the days ahead, at least, there seems to be a focus on humanitarian assistance. "We went out to a couple of villages today where the marines were delivering humanitarian daily rations, getting to know some of the local folks," Roberts said.

"This really works on a couple of levels. It helps the locals who have had a difficult time getting supplies because of the interruptions from the war and it also builds a friendship between the Marines and locals because there is a lot of Iraqi resistance here, a lot of Ba'ath Party leaders trying to convince the Shiites -- under threat of death some of them -- to take on the Americans."

Army supply trucks appeared on the Marine route north for the first time Sunday, supporting field reports that U.S. Army and Marine forces were meeting for the first time in the ground invasion, which had the Marines trekking north along Route 80 — known as the "Highway of Death" — and Army forces punching their way across desert terrain.

Rank-and-file Marines, ordered to intercept and question each civilian they see along the route after four American servicemen were killed in a suicide attack Saturday, also handed out ration packets. For hungry Iraqis, this gift was the only thing that could persuade them the Marines were not there to hurt them.

"I had one of them tell me they'd heard to be a Marine you had to eat a baby, or kill someone," one Marine said about Iraqi prisoners of war.

In Najaf, the site of Saturday's deadly suicide bombing attack that killed four U.S. soldiers, intense fighting forced Apache helicopters from the U.S. 101st Airborne Division to pull back and call in artillery fire to soften Iraqi positions, according to field reports.

There were other pockets of Iraqi resistance in Sanawah, Karbala and Diwaniyah in southern-central Iraq. Aircraft flying in these areas continue to take fire from machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft artillery.

Near the central-southern city of an-Nasariyah, ground forces have been building a bridge along a dirt road to help unclog supply lines to forces further north, as coalition forces are trying to skirt the city itself to minimize casualties.

Food, water and ammunition have to catch up with troops in forward positions, as a recent sandstorm that grounded transport helicopters held up supplies.

In a related development, U.S. Central Command said Marines secured buildings occupied by elements of the Iraqi 11th Infantry Division Saturday in an-Nasariyah.

Marines of 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, commanded by Lt. Col. Brent Dunahoe, secured the buildings during a raid and found a large cache of weapons, ammunition, and chemical decontamination equipment.

Marines of 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, commanded by Lt. Col. Royal P. Mortenson, found a second cache of weapons in a building on the south side of the city.

In the largest building the Marines found and confiscated over 300 chemical suits, over 300 gas masks, atropine injectors, two chemical decontamination vehicles and other chemical decontamination devices.

"We will bring in subject matter experts to positively identify all the equipment we found," said Col. Ron Johnson, Task Force Tarawa Operations Officer.

Also found were more than 800 rocket propelled grenades, over 2,000 rounds of 7.62 mm rifle rounds, 5,000 rounds of 14.5 mm rounds, over 10,000 12.7 mm machine gun rounds, mines, over 300 rounds of various mortars and several hundred artillery rounds. Marines are still determining the exact amount of seized ammunition and weapons in the buildings.

"We found so much ammunition that it would be too dangerous to the city to blow it in place. We are going to have to transport it somewhere safe," said Johnson.