From Fairford to Baghdad, how the second week of war unfolded

Bombers from RAF Fairford were heading for Baghdad again as Sunday began. An American soldier was in handcuffs after rolling grenades into his own command tent, killing one officer and injuring 13 more. A British Tornado jet was "engaged" by a US Patriot missile system and shot down, its crew killed. "We have to be ready for more sadness and setbacks ahead," said the Prime Minister. The ITN reporter Terry Lloyd and two members of his film crew were believed dead after being caught in friendly machine-gun fire. The first American prisoners of war were shown on Iraqi television, and their images condemned as a violation of the Geneva Convention. Crowds searched, burned and fired into reeds on the banks of the Tigris in Baghdad, where a downed pilot was thought to be hiding. None was found. US forces pressed on for Baghdad, leaving British troops behind to finish "securing" Nasiriyah and Basra, the second city. They faced unexpectedly strong resistance, as did Royal Marines in the port of Umm Qasr and other southern towns. There were boos at a subdued Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles when George Bush was accused of "sending us to war for fictitious reasons".

Oil prices rose on Monday as traders decided there would be no quick end to the conflict. With casualties mounting, the discovery of a chemical weapons factory near Najar looked like welcome news for coalition leaders; but the claim has yet to be proven. Syria said a US missile had hit a bus close to the border, killing five, inspiring volunteers to join the defence of Baghdad. Saddam Hussein appeared on television, scotching rumours of his death by praising named generals for their efforts; then pictures were broadcast of a downed US helicopter and its pilots. Bombers pounded Mosul and Kirkuk in the north, but columns of US vehicles advancing on Baghdad were immobilised by ferocious sandstorms.

They were still trapped by the weather on Tuesday, as Sergeant Steven Roberts was identified as the first British soldier to be killed in combat. The second, an unnamed member of the Black Watch, was confirmed soon afterwards. Saudi Arabia called for a ceasefire and more diplomacy, even as George Bush asked Congress for $74.7bn to go on fighting. An Iraqi missile was shot down in the sky above Kuwait City. The port of Umm Qasr was declared "safe and open" at last. Military officials became excited by reports of an uprising inside Basra, but these later appeared optimistic, at best.

Cruise missiles hit the studios of Iraqi state television on Wednesday, but it kept broadcasting. At least 15 people were killed when a busy market in Baghdad was struck. George Bush met Tony Blair in Maryland and they disagreed about a role for the United Nations in the rebuilding of Iraq; the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, had already insisted the Americans would exercise "dominating control" over the country. The World Food Programme said Iraqis had enough food for five weeks but would then require the biggest aid operation in history. Sandstorms continued to delay the military advance, but the cameras watched a thousand US paratroopers jump out of their aircraft to "seize" an airfield in the north even though the runway was under friendly Kurdish control; the first shipments of humanitarian aid arrived in the southern town of Safwan, prompting near riots as hungry and thirsty people fought for food and water.

More aid was expected in Umm Qasr on Thursday, but the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ship Sir Galahad did not arrive, apparently because of mines in the channel. In London Geoff Hoon suggested the Baghdad market explosion might have been "fall-out from the regime's anti-aircraft fire". So far 350 civilians had been killed and 4,000 injured, said the Iraqis. The Pentagon announced the accelerated deployment of another 100,000 troops and confirmed the decision to deploy "non-lethal" gases of the type that was used, fatally, in the Moscow theatre siege last year. "The enemy we're fighting is different from the one we had wargamed against," said Lieutenant General William Wallace. The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards destroyed a squadron of 14 Iraqi T-55s in the British army's heaviest tank battle since the Second World War. US marines were injured in battles at Nasiriyah and Najaf.

The sandstorms cleared and bombers flew 600 missions as the lead American troops edged closer to Baghdad, but progress was slow. President Bush vowed the conflict would last "however long it takes to win". Tony Blair said two British soldiers shown on Iraqi TV had been executed; but his armed forces minister, Adam Ingram, later expressed "regret" for any distress caused to the families by this claim. Mr Blair stressed the aid effort would be as important as the fighting, and flew to see the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, in New York.

Their talks bore fruit on Friday when the Security Council voted unanimously to resume the oil-for-food programme that had been feeding 60 per cent of Iraqis before war broke out. The Sir Galahad finally docked in Umm Qasr, but was carrying only 600 tons of food and water. Kurdish guerrillas supported by American special forces overcame the militant Islamic group Ansar al-Islam at its camp in the northern mountains. Nasiriyah had still not fallen, so thousands more troops were sent in to battle. One unit claimed the capture of an Iraqi general. The militia defending Basra turned mortars and machine guns on a thousand civilians as they attempted to flee the city, which had been without running water and electricity for a week. "War lite" tactics of surgical strikes and fast-moving troops having failed, the conflict looked likely to be slow and bloody.

Another British soldier died as a result of friendly fire. As bombs kept falling on Baghdad, 55 people died in an explosion at a market. A man who had lost his wife and child asked: "Is this the humanity that Bush is talking about?"