HANDS above their heads, two Iraqis slowly mount the steps and lie face down on the road between the palace walls and reedbanks of the Tigris river.

Just 20 yards from the American Bradley armoured vehicles, one makes a fatal mistake. He appears to roll over.

Crack. Crack, crack. The body jumps, then falls still. The US platoon continues its work, and the battle for Baghdad moves on along a river that has swollen with blood throughout history and is doing so again.

The Americans had arrived, and this first glimpse of US military might in the heart of the Iraqi capital early yesterday morning sent out a stark message. As one Marine general put it: “We are in Baghdad and we are in Baghdad to stay.”

By last night President Bush’s men still occupied the few streets around the Republican Palace in the heart of Baghdad that they seized just after dawn. Saddam Hussein’s Government remained in control of the rest of the city, and in between lay a feral, deserted, and shifting riverside zone patrolled by snipers and militia.

From the upper storeys of the Palestine Hotel, with the aid of zoom lenses, the Baghdad press corps enjoyed a full bird’s-eye view of the dramatic events as they unfurled across the river.

The action began before dawn, and even in the darkness imposed by night, burning oil fires and the tiniest sliver of moon, it was evident from the intense gunfire that the battle had begun.

The city shook from the recoil of tanks, mortars and heavy artillery. The air rang with the staccato bursts of machinegun fire too deep and too rapid to be hand-held weapons.

At 8am we spotted two US Bradleys between the Jumuriya and July 14 bridges, heading north along the west bank of the Tigris embankment. In the skies above A10 Warthog aircraft circled and swooped, firing at Iraqi oil tanks and weapons dumps in the sandy reedland.

Dozens of Iraqis fled along the river, some in combat fatigues, a handful still holding weapons, but one in just his underpants and vest.

As the remaining Iraqis returned sporadic fire, troops leapt from the Bradleys and scattered along the road to guard the main force of Abrams tanks and more Bradleys arriving to seize the palace. Some set up a machinegun post and raked the Iraqi dugouts with heavy fire and grenade launchers.

As the firefight continued, bursts of machinegun fire indicated heavy clashes beyond the trees. There was a sudden strike on a weapons dump, and the random crackle of ammunition exploding in a ball of orange.

Minutes later the wind changed direction, and the acrid fumes from a burning oil tank drifted in our direction, obscuring our view.

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