U.S. military commanders said after three days of heavy fighting allied armor and infantry units have burst through Iraqi Republican Guard positions and are moving quickly toward Baghdad. They said that unless there is unexpected Iraqi resistance the first U.S. forces will arrive on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital by early Sunday.

Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said Iraq would employ additional suicide bombers to strike U.S. and allied forces. Ramadan said the suicide bomber was an Iraqi father who would be honored for his mission.

On Saturday, five soldiers of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division were killed in a suicide attack at a checkpoint near Najaf. U.S. officials said the attack was conducted by a man in civilian clothes.

U.S. officials said Riyad had complained that U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile strikes from the Red Sea were landing in the kingdom. They said the Saudi protests led to a decision to reduce cruise missile attacks.

"In the case of Saudi Arabia, we did have a number of T-LAM [Tomahawk] missiles that were reported down in their territory," Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart, the coalition's director of operations, said.

Renuart said U.S. Central Command is investigating mishaps in the Tomahawk navigation system. He said the cruise missile attacks from the region will resume at an unspecified date.