With sandstorms finally ended and a new front opened in the north, U.S. commanders said today they would swiftly intensify attacks on Iraqi forces. In the south, a British armored unit destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks trying to break out of the besieged city of Basra.

In Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, 1,000 Rangers and other paratroopers from the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade airdropped overnight onto an airfield and were busy securing it. It is the first large deployment of American ground troops in the region; previously, only small groups of U.S. Special Forces were operating along with allied Kurdish fighters.

In central Iraq, where huge Army and Marine forces are gradually closing in on Baghdad, U.S. commanders were buoyed by arrival of good weather. Defense officials said U.S. and British forces flew more than 600 bombing missions today - many against Republican Guard positions near Baghdad - as they revved up an air campaign that had slowed because of bad weather

In a news briefing at Central Command, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said several U.S. units battled successfully against Iraqi forces, destroying vehicles and inflicting casualties. He said some Marines were injured in a 90-minute battle near the southern city of An Nasiriyah, but gave no details.

Brooks accused the Iraqis of increasingly flagrant violations of international conventions. Iraqi security forces were seizing children in order to force their fathers to join the military, and were executing men who resisted, he said.

In southern Iraq, a tank unit of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks that streamed out of the besieged city of Basra overnight, according to a British spokesman, Group Capt. Al Lockwood. It was the third time this week that Iraqi columns have been attacked while trying to get out of Basra.

Lockwood said militiamen of the ruling Baath were threatening families of Iraqi soldiers to force them into driving the military vehicles out of Basra.

"They are obviously coercing them into this action, whereas in fact we would have wished them to surrender," he said.

"The enemy's options are now limited," Lockwood said of the failed breakouts. "Military cohesion is sadly lacking."

Aid for Basra and other parts of southern Iraq is supposed to come through the port of Umm Qasr, which has been captured by the allies. However, British officers said Iraqi mines have been discovered in the port, delaying the arrival of a ship carrying 200 tons of aid until minesweeping is completed.

Near An Nasiriyah, more than 30 U.S. Marines were injured, two seriously, in an accidental exchange of fire between American units, according to reporters for French and British media who were with the Marines. ITV correspondent James Mates said two groups of Marines were dispatched during the night to repel an Iraqi contingent, but ended up firing at each other.

Brooks said U.S. officials were investigating the report.

Oregon's missing and dead

U.S. and British casualties from the war. U.S. troops: 26 dead, seven captured, eight missing. British troops: 22 dead; some names not released. Sources: U.S. and British military and family members. The following are Oregonians on the list. DEATHS: March 25: Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone, 40, Boise, Idaho, (Portland native) grenade attack March 24: Marine 2nd Lt. Frederick E. Pokorney Jr., 31, Tonopah, Nev., (former Oregon State University student) combat Army Reserve Spc. Brandon S. Tobler, 19, Portland, vehicle accident MISSING: March 23: Army Sgt. Donald Walters, 33, Salem - By The Associated Press

Baghdad was jolted by more explosions today.

Skies cleared today over Baghdad after one of the worst sandstorms in memory and the city was jolted by a series of explosions.

Iraq's health minister, Omeed Medhat Mubarak, said 36 civilians were killed and 215 injured Wednesday in allied air strikes on Baghdad, including what Iraq said was a U.S. cruise missile strike that hit a market area.

Nationwide, Mubarak said about 350 civilians had been killed and more than 4,000 injured since the war began. "Neither the Bush administration nor their bombs are 'smart,"' said Mubarak, accusing the United States and Britain of deliberately targeting civilians.

Brook said U.S. investigators were trying to determine whether a U.S. missile might have hit the Baghdad market area on Wednesday. However, he suggested the damage might have been caused by an errant Iraqi surface-to-air missile, or even by a deliberate Iraqi action aimed at discrediting the United States.

An Iraqi military spokesman, Gen. Hazem al-Rawi, contended that U.S. and British officials were exaggerating their progress and concealing losses inflicted by Iraqi forces. "The enemy was not able to achieve the minimum of its objectives," he said.

In London, British defense officials said the discovery of more chemical protection suits suggest Iraq was prepared to use chemical weapons against advancing coalition forces.

Soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment found about a hundred protection suits and respirators in an Iraqi command post, said Adm. Michael Boyce, chief of the defense staff.

"This kit was effective, well cared for and in good working order," Boyce said.

At his retreat at Camp David, President Bush conferred on strategy and postwar plans with his closest ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. One potentially divisive topic: how big a role to give the United Nations in Iraq's reconstruction.

The two leaders talked privately Wednesday night, and planned a series of meetings today. Their principal foreign policy advisers, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, also were discussing war strategy and plans for Iraq's reconstruction.

Blair has advocated a more extensive role for the United Nations in administering postwar Iraq than has Bush.