Kurdish guerrilla fighters entered the strategic oil-rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq today and residents looted government offices in a further sign that the Iraqi regime's hold over the north was crumbling.
As Kurdish "peshmerga" fighters drove through one of Kirkuk's industrial districts it was unclear whether any Iraqi forces remained in the city.
Some shooting was reported in the north-western outskirts.
More than 100 vehicles, including a rubbish truck laden with Kurdish fighters, drove through the streets flying the flags of the two major Kurdish factions who rule the autonomous region: yellow for Kurdistan Democratic Party and green for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
A US military official said American special forces were attempting to get a US presence into Kirkuk "in the interest of regional stability" - an apparent reference to Turkey's concerns about Kurds taking over the oil city.
Kurdish families ran out of their homes to cheer and throw roses as the fighters passed.
In one city square, the bodies of two dead Iraqi soldiers lay near the base of a statue of President Saddam Hussein.
People looted and destroyed the headquarters of the ruling Baath Party and residents carried away air conditioners and equipment from government offices.
Control of Kirkuk is the long-held dream of the Kurds, who were harshly oppressed by Saddam's regime and established an autonomous zone protected by British and American aircraft in northern Iraq in 1991.
Kurds consider Kirkuk and Mosul, the third-largest city in Iraq, part of their historical ethnic territory.
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