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Basra is under the control of British forces, British officials say. The southern Iraqi city had been the scene of a standoff between British troops and paramilitary and Fedayeen fighters since the first week of the war. Meanwhile, Basra residents flood the streets and loot the city. NPR's Alex Chadwick talks to the BBC's Kylie Morris.

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair conclude a summit in Northern Ireland. The two say the United Nations will have a "vital role" in postwar Iraq. Bush suggests the role primarily would be humanitarian. But Blair is under pressure from his public and European neighbors to permit a leading U.N. role in governing and rebuilding Iraq. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

U.S. Military officials say they don't know yet if Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was killed in an airstrike on Monday. U.S. fighter jets dropped bombs on a Baghdad building after intelligence sources said Saddam was inside. NPR's John Burnett, with the 1st Marine Division in eastern Baghdad, reports.

Facing no resistance from forces loyal to Saddam Hussein, Kurdish militia and U.S. Special Forces seize the key northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, one of the country's main oil-producing areas. Kurdish leaders also report advances elsewhere, including oil fields further north. Hear NPR's Ivan Watson.

U.S. Marines pushing to the center of Baghdad from the east are expected to link up with Army troops moving in from the west. The Marines' advance is met with sporadic resistance. Hear NPR's John Burnett.

Kurdish fighters and U.S. Special Forces take control of a key mountaintop overlooking the Iraqi-held city of Mosul, a senior Kurdish official says. He says it is the most important gain in the region thus far, and has opened the way for troops to enter Mosul. Hear NPR's Ivan Watson.

U.S. officials say Saddam Hussein's regime appears to have lost hold of Baghdad, though some fighting continues. Security forces and government officials have disappeared, replaced by looters, and a crowd of Iraqi citizens, with th help of a U.S. Marine vehicle, topples a 40-foot statue of Saddam Hussein. U.S. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks says the regime "is in disarray and much of Iraq is free from years of oppression." Hear NPR News.

U.S. special forces troops and Kurdish fighters enter Mosul after the Iraqi army abandons the northern city. Widespread looting and celebrations are now under way. Hear NPR's Ivan Watson.

Two Shia clerics, one returning from exile and the other a Saddam loyalist, are hacked to death in the holiest mosque in Najaf. Observers fear the deaths could be the first round of bloodletting among rival Shia groups jockeying for power in post-Saddam Iraq. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

U.S. forces move to secure cities and oil fields in the north, attacking the city of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's birthplace and base of power. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says much work remains in Iraq, including recovering prisoners of war, searching for weapons of mass destruction and capturing or accounting for the Iraqi leader. Hear NPR's Scott Horsley.