One US soldier was killed and 13 others injured in the pre-dawn clashes in Baghdad, which came as explosions awoke the city's residents on their first day free of the Iraqi president's rule in more than two decades.

World leaders cautiously welcomed the fall of the capital to US forces as mystery swirled around Saddam's fate. But US and British officials warned dangers persisted for coalition forces, and victory was not yet in hand.

US-Kurdish fighters seized northern Iraq's oil capital of Kirkuk yesterday without a struggle, witnesses said.

In Baghdad, crowds no longer afraid to show contempt for Saddam's regime ransacked the abandoned villas of members of his inner circle, including his son Uday, as well as the German embassy and the French cultural centre.

Earlier, Iraqi loyalist fighters hiding in buildings, under cars, and beneath bridges attacked US Marines before dawn along the northern banks of the Tigris river running through Baghdad.

Later clashes near a mosque in north Baghdad left five Iraqis dead and six others wounded.

On the edge of Kirkuk, no signs of fighting were in evidence, but groups of looters were pillaging administrative buildings. Turkish news channel NTV reported scenes of jubilation in the streets of the city.

A senior diplomat at the Turkish foreign ministry said any attempt by the Iraqi Kurds to hold Kirkuk permanently would be "unacceptable."

US President George W. Bush welcomed the news of the fall of Baghdad. But the White House warned the war was not over. Tony Blair' spokesman also warned: "There are still dangers we should not underestimate."

Baghdad's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammed al-Duri, said, "The game is over" - the first senior official to concede defeat in the US-led war. He later boarded a plane to Europe.

(China Daily April 11, 2003)