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The role of the US-led coalition forces in Iraq is switching from combat action to maintaining security and providing humanitarian aid to Iraqis, but they still have combat work to do, a spokesman of the US Central Command in Qatar said on Wednesday.
The number of coalition forces in Baghdad will increase in the next 48 hours and some of the troops have switched to humanitarian roles, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a press conference at the Central Command.
Coalition forces still have combat work to do, he added.
Coalition troops consolidated gains south of Baghdad and continued to expand areas of influence north of Basra on Wednesday, Brooks said, adding that there was sporadic engagement with Iraqi troops in Baghdad.
Encounters with local Iraqis had been "positive," Brooks said.
Brooks said coalition forces are putting "relentless pressure on the Iraqi regime" but have not located every Iraqi government leader.
US and British forces do not want to destroy any more human life than is necessary, Brooks said.
According to him, most parts of Baghdad are physically unaffected by coalition combat action.
Baghdad will not see a repeat of "the scenes that have been historical reminders of movements by military forces into capital cities in other countries throughout military history," he said.
Coalition forces continue to remain focused in being deliberate, calculating in their application of military force and, wherever possible, minimizing the impact on civilians or infrastructure not intended to be damaged, Brooks said.
Brooks pledged that "every effort is being made to damage the city as little as possible," although some damage will occur, especially to buildings the Iraqi regime uses.
(Xinhua News Agency, April 9, 2003)
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