The Associated Press

With sandstorms finally ended and a new front opened in the north, U.S. commanders said Thursday they would swiftly intensify attacks on Iraqi forces. In the south, a British armored unit destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks trying to break out of the besieged city of Basra.

In Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, 1,000 Rangers and other paratroopers from the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade airdropped overnight onto an airfield and were busy securing it. It is the first large deployment of American ground troops in the region; previously, only small groups of U.S. Special Forces were operating along with allied Kurdish fighters.

In central Iraq, where huge Army and Marine forces are gradually closing in on Baghdad, U.S. commanders were buoyed by arrival of good weather. Defense officials said U.S. and British forces flew more than 600 bombing missions Thursday as they revved up an air campaign that had slowed because of bad weather

In a news briefing at Central Command, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said several U.S. units battled successfully against Iraqi forces, destroying vehicles and inflicting casualties. He said some Marines were injured in a 90-minute battle near the southern city of An Nasiriyah, but gave no details.

Brooks accused the Iraqis of increasingly flagrant violations of international conventions. Iraqi security forces were seizing children in order to force their fathers to join the military, and were executing men who resisted, he said.

In southern Iraq, a tank unit of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks that streamed out of the besieged city of Basra overnight, according to a British spokesman, Group Capt. Al Lockwood.