British soldiers of 40 Commando, Royal Marines,  after they took the Al-Faw Peninsula oil installations  in southern Iraq, Friday, March 21, 2003. Allied  troops were advancing through the deserts of  southern Iraq Friday, meeting resistance from  Iraqi forces in some areas and soldiers surrendering in others. (AP Photo/Terry Richards, Pool)

IN THE KUWAIT-IRAQ DEMILITARIZED ZONE - U.S. Marines took full control of the strategic port of Umm Qasr in southern Iraq on Friday, a British military official said. The takeover came after overnight shelling in the area.  Elsewhere, coalition forces lost 13 soldiers, including a Marine from Illinois, in fighting and a helicopter crash.  "Umm Qasr has been overwhelmed by the U.S. Marines and now is in coalition hands," Adm. Michael Boyce, chief of the British defense staff, said in London.  British forces in the area were dealing with "significant numbers" of Iraqi troops who had surrendered, Boyce said. U.S. and British forces were on the outskirts of Basra, southern Iraq's largest city, he added.

DESERT SNORE Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade of the U.S. 101st Airborn  Division rest in foxholes by their convoy in a staging area in the Kuwaiti desert.  Allied combat units rumbled  across desert into Irag from  the south.

"Any attempt by Saddam Hussein to release oil into the Gulf and create an environmental disaster has been thwarted," said Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon. 

The Marines captured at least 200 prisoners after attacking the port early Friday, a U.S. military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. They were still meeting pockets of Iraqi resistance. 

Day broke with U.S. and British forces responding to the Iraqis with artillery, and muzzle blasts breaking like lightning, sending frightened dogs running across the roads of abandoned farm towns. Jets attacked one position to the west of Umm Qasr, lights sparking in the air as bombs dropped. 

Marines taking control of the main highway leading to the key port city of Basra, the heart of Iraq's southern oil facilities, encountered mortar fire. 

A U.S. Marine died after being wounded during the advance on the Rumeila oil field, the military said. 

Thick smoke filled the skies from fires at some of the many oil wells and processing facilities in the region, where pipelines funnel Iraq's economic lifeblood through the al-Faw peninsula to the Persian Gulf. 

Iraqi troops set fire to about 30 of the hundreds of oil wells in the region, Hoon said. 

British Royal Artillary Troops from the 29 commando Regiment fire their 105 light guns from a position in the Kuwaiti desert toward targets in southern Irag on Thursday. British troops took the southern portion of the peninsula in the first hours of the ground war, but at a cost: eight British and four U.S. Marines died when their CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed.  The helicopter, which crashed Friday morning in Kuwait 9 miles from the Iraq border, was assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. Officials said hostile fire had not been reported in the area at the time. The pilot was identified as Capt. Ryan Beaupre, 30, of St. Anne, Ill., by family members who said they were notified of the death early Friday. However, Marine officials in Illinois and at Camp Pendleton, Calif., where Beaupre was based, could not immediately confirm that he was one of those killed.  The Marines use the Sea Knight, a bus-like helicopter with two large rotors, to fly troops from ships at sea or base camps to forward positions.

Another man, who identified himself only as Abdullah, said he welcomed the arrival of the U.S. troops: "We're very happy. Saddam Hussein is no good. Saddam Hussein a butcher." 

Iraq's forces appear to have pulled back to Basra. "Iraq officers have split and run right back to Basra," said Capt. Joe Tlenzler, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Division. 

At one point, reporters with a U.S. troops in southern Iraq saw Marines sweeping Iraqi soldiers from around a burning pumping station as thick black smoke billowed hundreds of feet into the air. One Iraqi soldier was shot and killed by American forces as he tried to escape on a motorcycle. 

Hoon called the peninsula's capture "certainly a significant strategic success. It means that we have a bridgehead from which to operate, but crucially it means that part of the plan of the Iraqi authorities to destroy their oil wealth has been averted." 

The 1st Marine Division needed air support to suppress Iraqi mortar and small arms fire while seizing Route 80, which leads from Kuwait to Basra. 

"Every now and then they pop off to let us know they're still there," said Lt. Col. Steve Holmes, a Marine in charge of clearing berms for troops and armor to enter Iraq. 

Supported by Cobra attack helicopters and howitzers, Marine tanks and armored vehicles rolled down Route 80 through the demilitarized zone between Kuwait and Iraq. 

Tanks were placed on berms to provide cover for Marines moving on the road. 

Until then, the Marines had taken side roads. Route 80 allowed a faster approach to Basra itself for hundreds of Marine vehicles. 

The Marines had encountered resistance in the area for several hours Friday morning after moving to attack nearby Safwan, which fell within hours. 

The military continued to broadcast warnings to civilians in the area on loudspeakers to stay indoors, and urged Iraqi troops to surrender. 

On the Kuwait side, Marines in a sandbagged watchtower directed mortar fire at the Iraq side, where U.S. troops have watched the Iraqis, who appeared to be either digging defensive positions or setting land mines. "We'll find out soon enough," Holmes said.