Coalition forces move into Baghdad, Iraqi units flee city

U.S. Marines and Army forces now control all roads leading into and out of Baghdad, said a high-ranking senior Army officer.

A U.S. Central Command spokesperson said more than 2,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed or wounded Saturday when coalition forces swept through the capital city on initial reconnaissance missions. Iraqi forces are said to be using buildings such as mosques and hospitals as bases of operations in Baghdad. Army sources report soldiers are seeing an increasing number of Iraqi army units leaving Baghdad.

Two possible friendly fire incidents are under investigation. A U.S. warplane mistakenly dropped a bomb on a U.S.-Kurdish convoy Sunday in northern Iraq. Twelve Peshmerga fighters were killed and 45 Kurds were injured. Some special forces might have also been among the casualties.

In addition, a “possible friendly fire incident involving a F-15E Strike Eagle and coalition ground forces” is under investigation, military officials said Sunday. The incident killed three U.S. servicemen and injured five others.

Military officials are also investigating an attack on a convoy carrying Russian diplomats and journalists on its way to the Syrian border. At least four people were injured in the attack.

Search-and-rescue efforts continue in central Iraq for the pilot of an F/A-18C Hornet that crashed Wednesday. A Patriot air-defense missile is thought to have mistakenly shot down the U.S. Navy jet. A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter also crashed Wednesday, killing six soldiers. The crash is under investigation.

Jessica Lynch, the American prisoner of war who was rescued last week, is still at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Her parents were flown in a private jet to see the wounded soldier.

Lynch suffered gunshot wounds, broken bones and a damaged disk in her back. Her doctors said she is recovering quickly.

At the same location Lynch was rescued, nine bodies also were found. The bodies have now been identified as U.S. soldiers, eight of whom were members of Lynch’s 507th maintenance company.

NBC News correspondent David Bloom, 39, is now among the casualties of war. The reporter was embedded with the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division outside Baghdad. The husband and father of three apparently died Sunday of a pulmonary embolism. He is the second American journalist to die in Iraq since the war began.