American forces battled Iraqi defenders in fierce street fighting 50 miles south of Baghdad on Monday, pointing toward a drive on the capital. Army guards shot seven Iraqi women and children to death when their van refused orders to stop at a checkpoint, officials said. U.S. troops and tanks encountered rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire in a dawn raid against Republican Guard defenders of Hindiyah, a key city astride the Euphrates River. Other units fought to isolate Najaf to the south and prevent attacks on U.S. supply lines.

HINDIYAH, Iraq (AP)

BELTON

Five animals in Bell County have tested positive for rabies since January, leading local health department officials to issue a warning about a certain increase in local rabies cases for 2003. Four skunks and a horse infected by the skunk strain of rabies have been reported in the county, according to Dr. Beverlee Nix, zoonosis control veterinarian for the Texas Department of Health in Temple. That compares with three cases last year and only two cases, both rabid bats, in 2001.

When the Temple Daily Telegram

WACO

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)

WACO (AP)

PHOENIX (AP)

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