U.S. military commanders and correspondents reported dwindling resistance on Tuesday to the advance of U.S. ground forces toward eastern Baghdad. U.S. infantry and marine units captured a key bridge over the Tigris River and entered eastern Baghdad.

An A-10 close-support aircraft was shot down apparently by Iraqi surface-to-air fire. The pilot was said to have parachuted to safety.

Iraqi state radio and television broadcasts were disrupted amid U.S. aircraft bombing raids on Tuesday. The cessation included both satellite and ground-based television service.

Iraqi state radio also stopped transmitting on Tuesday. It was the first time that all regime transmissions came to a halt.

On Tuesday, a bomb struck the upper floors of the Palestine Hotel, where the correspondents were staying during their coverage of the Iraqi side of the war. Several people were injured and the hotel was evacuated.

The hotel was used by the Iraqi regime for daily briefings by Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Sahaf. Sahaf arrived on Tuesday and briefed reporters outside the building. The Information Ministry has already been destroyed.

In his briefing, Sahaf did not discuss the fate of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, said to have been inside a bunker destroyed in a U.S. air bombing attack. Sahaf also ruled out the prospect of surrender.