And British aircraft bombed a column of some 70 Iraqi armored vehicles Wednesday afternoon as it made its way south of Basra toward Umm Qasr, a key port city now under coalition control.
Coalition officials were not sure if the column represented a counterattack on the Umm Qasr area or if it was a tactical retreat from Basra.
"Quite simply the allies weren't taking any chances," he said. "This is war. It was a large target, a large column, and the decision was made to attack it."
As for the column moving out of Baghdad, Pentagon officials said they were aware only of "defensive repositioning" of Republican Guard units near the Iraqi capital and had no information on any large columns or convoys of Iraqi vehicles and troops moving in a threatening offensive way toward U.S. forces.