Airport Area Secure Enough For Limited Flight Ops

Military officials say an American C-130 touched down at Baghdad airport Sunday, the first plane to land since US forces seized the field early on Friday.

"At least one aircraft has landed at the airport," said the senior source in the US 3rd Infantry Division's aviation brigade, who was at the airport.

He said the C-130 Hercules landed at around 8 p.m. local time, about an hour after dark, on the western, military side of the international airport.

It was not immediately clear whether the plane was carrying a load or was testing the landing strip which had been slightly damaged by American bombing during Friday's assault on what was formerly known as Saddam International Airport.

Coalition forces seized the airport, some 12 miles southwest of the city center, on Friday. They then said they had renamed it Baghdad International Airport. On Sunday, US forces said they controlled practically all road access to the capital, too.

The source said earlier the US could land up to three aircraft at the airport after dark on Sunday. A Reuters correspondent at the airport said he heard anti-aircraft and artillery fire from western districts of Baghdad a while after the plane landed, but this appeared random rather than aimed specifically at the airport. He said there was heavy responding US artillery fire.

Making It Usable Again

The military side of the airport sustained some damage during Friday's capture, but the US military source said the Hercules had landed safely on a taxiway.

A team of military engineers had already started work to repair three small bomb craters on the runway. The eastern, civilian, side of the airport is more exposed to potential incoming Iraqi fire from the direction of Baghdad.

Col. John Peabody, commander of the Engineer Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, said earlier that the US had positioned 7,000 troops at the airport and was moving quickly to establish a small military village there.

Analysts have said the airport is a key strategic catch for US-led forces in their 18-day-old campaign to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Once cleared and fully secured, the airport is likely to be used to bring in troops, equipment and supplies, easing pressure on a long and vulnerable supply chain that stretches to Kuwait in the south.

FMI: www.centcom.mil