McCain in command; Obama, Clinton battle

WASHINGTON - John McCain earned himself a super Wednesday, a day to savor coast-to-coast primary victories that ratified him as the Republican front-runner, while Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama dug in after a night of divided spoils in a Democratic presidential contest that could stretch to the spring.

McCain, whose campaign once verged on collapse, piled up more delegates than his two rivals combined, pushing over the halfway mark on what's needed to clinch the nomination. His victories stretched from New York to California, the biggest prize. Still, Mitt Romney in the West and Mike Huckabee in the South proved to be go-to candidates for conservatives, and they vowed to press forward.

Clarity of any sort eluded the Democrats as campaigns turned to the next rounds — contests in Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington state Saturday and primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia on Tuesday.

Obama won 13 Super Tuesday states; Clinton, eight plus American Samoa. Clinton scored the advantage in delegates, bring her total to 845 to Obama's 765, by the latest accounting. The road ahead was long for the Democrats: It takes 2,025 delegates to claim their nomination.

Delegate tabulations continued Wednesday, possibly longer, and the victor in one race remained unsettled — the Democratic caucuses in New Mexico.

Clinton won the biggest state, California, capitalizing on backing from Hispanic voters. Obama scored victories in Alabama and Georgia on the strength of black support, and won a nail-biter in bellwether Missouri.

McCain's own victory in California dealt a crushing blow to his closest pursuer, Romney, a former Massachusetts governor.

"We've won some of the biggest states in the country," the Arizona senator told cheering supporters at a rally in Phoenix, hours before California fell his way. An underdog for months, he proclaimed himself the front-runner at last, and added. "I don't really mind it one bit."

In the competition that counted the most, the Arizona senator had 613 delegates, to 269 for Romney and 190 for Huckabee in incomplete counting. It takes 1,191 to win the GOP nomination.

Neither Democrat could plausibly claim an overall victory and didn't try.

"I look forward to continuing our campaign and our debate about how to leave this country better off for the next generation," Clinton said.

Obama told a boisterous election night rally in Chicago, "Our time has come. Our movement is real. And change is coming to America."

Polling place interviews with voters suggested subtle shifts in the political landscape.

For the first time this year, McCain ran first in a few states among self-identified Republicans. As usual, he was running strongly among independents. Romney was getting the votes of about four in 10 people who described themselves as conservative. McCain was winning about one-third of that group, and Huckabee about one in five.

Overall, Clinton was winning only a slight edge among women and white voters, groups that she had won handily in earlier contests, according to preliminary results from interviews with voters in 16 states leaving polling places.

Obama was collecting the overwhelming majority of votes cast by blacks — a factor in victories in Alabama and Georgia.

Clinton's continued strong appeal among Hispanics — she was winning nearly six in 10 of their votes — was a big factor in her California triumph, and in her victory in Arizona, too.

McCain, the early Republican front-runner whose campaign nearly unraveled six months ago, won in California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Missouri, Delaware and his home state of Arizona — each of them winner-take-all primaries. He also pocketed victories in Oklahoma and Illinois.

Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, won a series of Bible Belt victories, in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee as well as his own home state. He also triumphed at the Republican West Virginia convention, and told The Associated Press in an interview he would campaign on. "The one way you can't win a race is to quit it, and until somebody beats me, I'm going to answer the bell for every round of this fight," he said.

Romney won a home state victory in Massachusetts. He also took Utah, where fellow Mormons supported his candidacy. His superior organization produced caucus victories in North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Alaska and Colorado, and he, too, breathed defiance. "We're going to go all the way to the convention. We're going to win this thing," he told supporters in Boston.

Democrats played out a historic struggle between two senators: Clinton, seeking to become the first female president, and Obama, hoping to become the first black to win the White House.

Clinton won at home in New York as well as in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arizona and Arkansas, where she was first lady for more than a decade. She also won the caucuses in American Samoa.

Obama won Connecticut, Georgia, Alabama, Delaware, Utah and his home state of Illinois. He prevailed in caucuses in North Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, Idaho, Alaska and Colorado. His Missouri victory was so close in the vote total that there was no telling whether he or Clinton would end up with a majority of the state's 72 delegates.

Clinton had a 117-vote lead in New Mexico when the party shut its vote counting operation until 11 a.m. EST.

The allocation of delegates lagged the vote count by hours. That was particularly true for the Democrats, who divided theirs roughly in proportion to the popular vote.

Nine of the Republican contests were winner take all, and that was where McCain piled up his lead.

Alabama and Georgia gave Obama three straight Southern triumphs. Like last month's win in South Carolina, they were powered by black votes.

Democrats and Republicans alike said the economy was their most important issue. Democrats said the war in Iraq ranked second and health care third. Republican primary voters said immigration was second most important after the economy, followed by the war in Iraq.

The survey was conducted in 16 states by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and television networks.

McCain Seizes Command Of GOP Race

Sen. John McCain seized command of the race for the Republican presidential nomination early Wednesday, winning delegate-rich primaries from the East Coast to California. Democratic rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama traded victories in an epic struggle with no end in sight.

Clinton won the biggest state, California, in the Democratic campaign, capitalizing on backing from Hispanic voters. Obama fashioned victories in Alabama and Georgia on the strength of black support.

McCain's own victory in the Republican race in the Golden State dealt a crushing blow to his closest pursuer, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

"We've won some of the biggest states in the country," McCain told cheering supporters at a rally in Phoenix, hours before California made his Tuesday Super. An underdog for months, he proclaimed himself the front-runner at last, and added. "I don't really mind it one bit."

In the competition that counted the most, the Arizona senator had 522 delegates, more than 40 percent of the 1,191 needed for the nomination — and far ahead of his rivals.

Even so, Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said they were staying in the race.

Neither Clinton nor Obama proclaimed overall victory on a Super Tuesday that sprawled across 22 states, and with good reason. Obama won 12 states and Clinton eight plus American Samoa. But with victories in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, the former first lady led in the early tabulation of Super Tuesday delegates.

Democratic races in Missouri and New Mexico were too close to call. No returns had been tabulated in Republican caucuses in Alaska.

"I look forward to continuing our campaign and our debate about how to leave this country better off for the next generation," said the former first lady, looking ahead to the primaries and caucuses yet to come.

Obama was in Chicago, where he told a noisy election night rally, "Our time has come. Our movement is real. And change is coming to America."

Polling place interviews with voters suggested subtle shifts in the political landscape.

For the first time this year, McCain ran first in a few states among self-identified Republicans. As usual, he was running strongly among independents. Romney was getting the votes of about four in 10 people who described themselves as conservative. McCain was wining about one-third of that group, and Huckabee about one in five.

Overall, Clinton was winning only a slight edge among women and white voters, groups that she had won handily in earlier contests, according to preliminary results from interviews with voters in 16 states leaving polling places.

Obama was collecting the overwhelming majority of votes cast by blacks — a factor in victories in Alabama and Georgia.

Clinton's continued strong appeal among Hispanics — she was winning nearly six in 10 of their votes — was a big factor in her California triumph, and in her victory in Arizona, too.

McCain, the early Republican front-runner whose campaign nearly unraveled six months ago, won in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Missouri, Delaware and his home state of Arizona — each of them winner-take-all primaries. He also pocketed victories in Oklahoma and Illinois.

Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, won a series of Bible Belt victories, in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee as well as his own home state. He also triumphed at the Republican West Virginia convention, and told The Associated Press in an interview he would campaign on. "The one way you can't win a race is to quit it, and until somebody beats me, I'm going to answer the bell for every round of this fight," he said.

Romney won a home state victory in Massachusetts. He also took Utah, where fellow Mormons supported his candidacy. His superior organization produced caucus victories in North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota and Colorado, and he, too, breathed defiance. "We're going to go all the way to the convention. We're going to win this thing," he told supporters in Boston.

Democrats played out a historic struggle between two senators: Clinton, seeking to become the first female president, and Obama, hoping to become the first black to win the White House.

Clinton won at home in New York as well as in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arizona and Arkansas, where she was first lady for more than a decade. She also won the caucuses in American Samoa.

Obama won Connecticut, Georgia, Alabama, Delaware, Utah and his home state of Illinois. He prevailed in caucuses in North Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, Idaho, Alaska and Colorado.

After an early series of low-delegate, single-state contests, Super Tuesday was anything but small — its primaries and caucuses were spread across nearly half the country in the most wide-open presidential campaign in memory.

The result was a double-barreled set of races, Obama and Clinton fighting for delegates as well as bragging rights in individual states, the Republicans doing the same.

The allocation of delegates lagged the vote count by hours. That was particularly true for the Democrats, who divided theirs roughly in proportion to the popular vote.

Nine of the Republican contests were winner take all, and that was where McCain piled up his lead.

The Arizona senator had 522 delegates, to 223 for Romney and 142 for Huckabee. It takes 1,191 to clinch the presidential nomination at next summer's convention in St. Paul, Minn.

Overall, Clinton had 706 delegates to 611 for Obama, out of the 2,025 needed to secure victory at the party convention in Denver. Clinton's advantage is partly due to her lead among so-called superdelegates, members of Congress and other party leaders who are not selected in primaries and caucuses — and who are also free to change their minds.

Alabama and Georgia gave Obama three straight Southern triumphs. Like last month's win in South Carolina, they were powered by black votes.

Democrats and Republicans alike said the economy was their most important issue. Democrats said the war in Iraq ranked second and health care third. Republican primary voters said immigration was second most important after the economy, followed by the war in Iraq.

The survey was conducted in 16 states by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and television networks.

Already, the campaigns were looking ahead to Feb. 9 contests in Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington state and Feb. 12 primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. And increasingly, it looked like the Democrats' historic race between a woman and a black man would go into early spring, possibly longer.

The de facto national primary was the culmination of a relentless campaign that moved into overdrive during Christmas week.

After a brief rest for the holiday, the candidates flew back to Iowa on Dec. 26 for a final stretch of campaigning before the state's caucuses offered the first test of the election year. New Hampshire's traditional first-in-the-nation primary followed a few days later, then a seemingly endless series of campaign days interspersed by debates and a handful of primaries and caucuses.

Along the way, the poorest performers dropped out: Democratic Sens. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio; and Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo, and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.

Former Sen. John Edwards pulled out of the Democratic race last week, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani left the Republican field.

Edwards offered no endorsement as he exited, instead leaving Obama and Clinton to vie for help from his fundraisers and supporters.

Giuliani quit the race and backed McCain in the same breath, clearing the way for the Westerner in New York and New Jersey.

Giuliani's departure also made it possible for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to back McCain. Schwarzenegger said he would not have done so as long as the former mayor was in the race.

Obama and Clinton spent an estimated $20 million combined to advertise on television in the Feb 5 states.

Obama spent $11 million, running ads in 18 of the 22 states with Democratic contests. Clinton ran ads in 17, for a total of $9 million.

U.S. Voters Head To The Polls For Super Tuesday

Voters across America are heading to the polls for what could be a pivotal day in deciding which Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls face off in the race to the White House.

Some of the biggest prizes of the primary season -- California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Missouri and Georgia -- are up for grabs on "Super Tuesday", when voters make their party choices in 24 of the states, as well as American Samoa.

At stake are more than four-fifths of the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination and more than 1,000 of the 1,191 necessary delegates on the Republican side.

This year's presidential race is generating more interest than usual because of its open nature. The current president, Republican George W. Bush, has served two terms in office and is ineligible to stand, while vice-president Dick Cheney is also not running.

None of the four Republicans and two Democrats seeking to be nominated by their parties have been adopted as official presidential candidates before.

The Democratic race between Illinois senator Barack Obama and New York senator Hillary Clinton, is already extremely close, with neither side expected to deliver a knock out blow. The chances of a clearcut winner will be further reduced by how the Democrats usually split delegates by a proportion of the popular vote.

Obama has taken first blood, with Democratic Party supporters voting abroad in Indonesia -- where Obama spent four years of his childhood -- picking him over Clinton.

But Obama and Clinton are likely to split the delegates fairly evenly, Democratic analyst Peter Fenn said.

Obama promoted his health-insurance proposal Tuesday, arguing that most people will opt for coverage if it is made affordable.

He told CNN's "American Morning" from San Francisco that his plan would allow anyone to get health care, and coverage would be mandated for children. Those who couldn't afford insurance would receive a subsidy, and there would be no restrictions because of pre-existing medical conditions.

"Our focus has been on reducing costs, making it available. I am confident that if people have a chance to buy high-quality health care that is affordable, they will do so," Obama said.

Clinton, who returned to her touchstone issue of health care Monday, had previously said Obama's plan is "not doable

She cast her vote in the New York's Democratic presidential primary Tuesday morning at the polling station in Chappaqua's Douglas Grafflin Elementary School with her husband and daughter.

She has campaigned on the contention that her eight years as first lady makes her more qualified on "day one" than Barack Obama, who has been a U.S. senator for just four years.

Former President Bill Clinton said casting his primary ballot for his wife was "one of the proudest moments of my life."

"I think that Obama clearly has an advantage in those seven states that are doing caucuses," Fenn said. "I think she's got to carry the big states that she had planned on. California is clearly up for grabs now ... Unless one or the other gets annihilated, I think they go on to many more Tuesdays."

In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll Monday, the two Democratic front-runners were virtually tied. Obama garnered 49 percent of registered Democrats, while Clinton trailed by just 3 percentage points. With a sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points, the margin is too close to call.

The Republican battle between Arizona senator John McCain, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee could be decided in Tuesday's vote with more than 1,000 of the 1,191 delegates needed to clinch the presidential nomination at stake. Other candidates include Ron Paul, who has described himself as an "old-time, conventional, traditional conservative" and "the most conservative member of Congress."

The Republicans allocate delegates in most primary states on a winner-take-all basis -- which means that wins in the biggest states by McCain, who leads national Republican polls, have the potential to propel him to a towering lead over his rivals.

While last-minute polls indicate Romney has gained ground against McCain in California, Romney is likely to split races with Huckabee in the South, Republican strategist John Feehery said.

"In the Northeastern states and Midwest, I think John McCain is going to win," Feehery said. "I think it's really hard for Mitt Romney to get this nomination."

Early Tuesday the two leading Republican candidates chose to evoke the spirit of two-time Republican president Ronald Reagan.

McCain, out on the streets of Manhattan with former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani -- who is endorsing him after dropping out of the Republican race last week -- said that he is the Republican who can win the White House by gaining the support of independent voters.

McCain, also accompanied by senator Joe Lieberman, told supporters that his campaign would "take the battle to the enemy."

"I guarantee you as the nominee of my party, I can and will carry the city of New York, as well as the state of New York because we know how to appeal to independents," he said.

"We are the greatest nation on earth. We will continue to lead and we will be, as Ronald Reagan said, a shining city on a hill."

Meanwhile Romney, speaking to CNN's "America Morning" from Charleston, West Virginia, said that a victory for him in California and other key states would pave the way for wider success.

"It will indicate the conservative voices in our party are standing up and saying, 'wait a second, we want to make sure that this party does not leave the house that Ronald Reagan built.

"And if that happens, I think we're going to see a very clear pathway to gain additional delegates from the ongoing contests, and put together the winning combination to get the nomination."

The two rivals exchanged bitter words Monday. Romney positioned himself as the conservative alternative to the Arizona senator, who has infuriated Republican activists with his support for immigration reform and campaign-finance reform as well as opposition against tax cuts, claiming that "you have a hard time distinguishing him from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama."

Meanwhile McCain attacked Romney for raising taxes, while refuting claims he's not conservative enough.

Romney suggested Sunday that Huckabee, who has struggled since winning the January 3 Iowa caucuses, quit the race because he was splitting the conservative vote. But Huckabee said Romney's assumption that Huckabee supporters would turn to him was "presumptuous and even arrogant."

Paul Tuesday said that the U.S. government has drifted in the past hundred years from following the Constitution, but he would put it back on track with balanced budgets, elimination of income taxes and the IRS, and withdrawal from "entangling alliances," including the United Nations.

White House Hopefuls Make Super Tuesday Pitches

Democratic and Republican White House hopefuls are making their final Super Tuesday pitches as voters in 24 states and American Samoa are heading to the polls.

Super Tuesday is virtually a national primary day, and some of the biggest prizes of the primary season -- California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Missouri and Georgia -- are up for grabs.

More than four-fifths of the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination and more than 1,000 of the 1,191 necessary delegates on the Republican side are at stake.

Tuesday's results are more likely to decide the presumptive presidential nominee in the Republican contest than in the Democratic contest because of the way the GOP allocates delegates.

Victors in the Republican primaries and caucuses usually enjoy a winner-take-all delegate system, while Democrats parcel out delegates on a proportional basis

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton cast her ballot in her home state of New York Tuesday morning. She was joined by her husband, former President Clinton, and her daughter, Chelsea.

The stakes are huge for our country, a lot of big challenges, but America's up to it," Clinton said after casting her vote. "We just need a president who's ready on day one to turn the economy around and become commander in chief and get our country back on the right track."

Obama started his Super Tuesday on the opposite coast. During an interview with CNN from San Francisco, California, the Illinois Democrat promoted his health care plan, a key issue for California voters.

"Our focus has been on reducing costs, making it available. I am confident that if people have a chance to buy high-quality health care that is affordable, they will do so," Obama said.

GOP nominees Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will be scrambling for votes throughout the day.

Two front-runners, McCain and Romney, have engaged in some bitter exchanges over each others conservative records

McCain started his day at a rally in New York flanked by former New York City mayor and presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman. McCain told supporters on a Manhattan street that he would "take the battle to the enemy."

"I guarantee you, as the nominee of my party, I can and will carry the city of New York as well as the state of New York, because we know how to appeal to independents," he said.

McCain was scheduled to fly to California, a key Super Tuesday state, for events in San Diego and was set to finish his day in Phoenix, Arizona.

McCain's closest rival for GOP nomination, Romney, told delegates at the West Virginia Republican convention Tuesday that wins in California and other Super Tuesday states would put him in position to win his party's nomination.

"It will indicate the conservative voices in our party are standing up and saying, 'wait a second, we want to make sure that this party does not leave the house that [former President] Ronald Reagan built," Romney said in Charleston, West Virginia.

"And if that happens, I think we're going to see a very clear pathway to gain additional delegates from the ongoing contests, and put together the winning combination to get the nomination."

While last-minute polls indicate Romney has gained ground against McCain in California, Romney is likely to split races with Huckabee in the South, Republican strategist John Feehery said.

In the Northeastern states and Midwest, I think John McCain is going to win," Feehery said. "I think it's really hard for Mitt Romney to get this nomination."

On the Democratic side, the surviving contenders -- Obama and Clinton -- are likely to split the delegates more evenly, Democratic analyst Peter Fenn said.

"I think that Obama clearly has an advantage in those seven states that are doing caucuses," Fenn said. "I think she's got to carry the big states that she had planned on. California is clearly up for grabs now ... Unless one or the other gets annihilated, I think they go on to many more Tuesdays."

In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll out Monday, the two Democratic front-runners were virtually tied

Obama, who trounced Clinton in January's South Carolina primary, garnered 49 percent of registered Democrats in Monday's poll, while Clinton trailed by just 3 percentage points. View the latest poll results »

With a sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points, that margin is too close to say which Democrat is leading

Super Tuesday ; Who is you Candidate

US voters have begun going to the polls in primaries and caucuses on Super Tuesday - the biggest day in the presidential nominating race so far.
The 24 states involved account for over half the delegates who will choose the candidates for November's election.

The Republican race, in which John McCain is leading his main challenger, Mitt Romney, may be decided on Tuesday.

But Democratic rivals Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are so close that this contest is set to go further.

Both parties' presidential hopefuls have been making last minute pushes for votes on the early morning US TV shows.

Mrs Clinton told CNN: "There are a lot of people who worry that the president just doesn't pay attention. I want them to know that I get it and I'll be there for them if they're willing to go out and vote for me today."

Meanwhile, Mr Obama told NBC: "The fact that we've made so much progress I think indicates that we've got the right message, and the question is are we going to be able to pull some states out."



For his part, Mr Romney asserted his conservative credentials, telling Fox News that voters would be saying to themselves: " If I want the conservative [candidate] I've gotta vote for Mitt Romney - he's the only one who's got a realistic chance of getting this nomination."

Mr McCain said he was cautiously optimistic that the next 24 hours would settle his party's race in his favour.

"I'm happy that we're doing as well as we are, but this could be a long night," he told NBC.

The BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says that in what seems like the blink of an eye, a sprawling, multi-candidate presidential race has shrunk and transformed itself into an intense and highly focused one.

In both the Republican and Democratic contests, it now comes down to a scramble for delegates on what is, without doubt, the most significant day of the campaign so far, our correspondent says.

In three states, only the Democratic Party is involved, and in two, only the Republican Party. In the other 19, which together account for nearly half the US population, both parties are in action.

Georgia is the first state to end voting at 2400 GMT, although West Virginia Republicans will make their choices at a convention earlier in the day. Voting in California ends at 0400 GMT.

Nine of the states holding their Republican primaries, including big states such as New York and New Jersey, have a winner-takes-all system.

Whoever gets the most voters in those states is awarded all of their delegates to the party's convention, where the candidate who wins more than 1,191 votes becomes the nominee for the presidential election.

A national poll for the Washington Post and ABC showed Mr McCain well ahead of his rivals. The Arizona senator had 48% against Mr Romney's 24%, with Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul trailing far behind.




A Reuters/C-Span/Zogby poll gave Mr McCain double digit leads over Mr Romney in New York, New Jersey and Missouri, although the former Massachusetts governor was ahead 40% to 32% in California.

The Republican front-runner kicked off his final push on Monday with a rally in Massachusetts, before heading for New Jersey and New York. He also made a last-minute change to his schedule to appear one more time in California.

Mr Romney, meanwhile, had an exhausting schedule of events in Tennessee, Georgia, Oklahoma and California.

'Exhausting and exhilarating'

The Democratic Party race is likely to be less decisive, our correspondent says.

Their delegates are allocated along more complex, proportional lines that can vary from district to district, making it more difficult to predict when one of the two remaining candidates will cross the decisive delegate threshold.

Further complicating the nomination contest is the presence of what are known as "super delegates" - members of the party hierarchy who will make up about a fifth of all those attending the party convention in late August.

They can choose whom to support at any point between now and then. In close presidential races, their votes have proved decisive, our correspondent adds.

Monday's Washington Post/ABC poll showed Senator Clinton's lead over Senator Obama had narrowed to 4%, while other polls showed the two neck-and-neck in the key state of California.

Of the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, California carries 370.

Despite this, both candidates spent Monday campaigning on the East Coast.

Mrs Clinton began the day with a visit to a child study centre at Yale University, where she volunteered as a law student, before later making stops in Massachusetts and New York.

Mr Obama flew out of Chicago and landed in New Jersey, where he attended a rally in East Rutherford.

Thousands flee fighting in Chad

Thousands of people are fleeing the Chad capital, N'Djamena, after two days of fierce fighting between government and rebel forces in the city.
The government says it has pushed the rebels out of the city but they say they withdrew to give civilians the chance to evacuate.

Aid workers report that fighting is continuing outside the city, while dead bodies litter the streets.

The European Union has delayed sending its peacekeeping force to Chad.

The EU force is intended to protect refugees from the Darfur region of neighbouring Sudan, as well as aid workers.

Chad accuses the Sudanese government of backing the rebel offensive in Chad in order to stop the EU force from being sent to the region.

Sudan denies this, as well as accusations that it has supported Arab militias accused of ethnic cleansing and genocide in Darfur.

Refugee concern

General Mahamat Ali Abdallah, who is commanding the government forces, said the rebels had been "completely routed".

But rebel spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah rejected this.

"We have pulled out of the city and we are waiting for the civilian population to be evacuated," he told AFP news agency.

"We certainly will go back on the offensive... We're asking the civilian population of Ndjamena to leave immediately because their safety cannot be assured."

N'Djamena is separated from Cameroon by the Ngueli bridge over the Logone-Chari river.

Thousands of people were streaming across the bridge, reports the Reuters news agency.

Local officials have told the UN refugee agency that thousands were also crossing at the border town of Kousseri.

"We're expecting a lot more people coming," said UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond.

He also said he was extremely concerned for the 240,000 Darfur refugees in Chad.

A plane chartered by the French government carrying 363 foreigners evacuated from Chad arrived in Paris on Monday morning.

Others have gone to Gabon.

The UN called an emergency meeting in New York to discuss the crisis and will meet again on Monday.

Before the meeting, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for a ceasefire.

In eastern Chad, the army said it had thwarted a second rebel attack on the town of Adre, near the border with Sudan.

'Window on genocide'

The area is home to some 400,000 people displaced as a result of the conflict in Darfur, who are living in camps.

Adre is in the area where a French-dominated EU peacekeeping force is due to deploy to protect displaced civilians and the aid workers supporting them.

France has a long-term military presence in Chad, one of its former colonies, giving the government intelligence and logistic support.

This has led the rebels to threaten to attack the EU peacekeeping force.

The government claimed the assault on the town had been backed by Sudanese aircraft.

Chad's Minister for Mines and Energy, General Mahamat Ali Abdallah Nassour, called the attack a "declaration of war" by Sudan.

"Sudan does not want this force because it would open a window on the genocide in Darfur," said Foreign Minister Amad Allam-Mi.

Sudan has repeatedly denied any involvement.

"Any developments in Chad reflect on Sudan and any instability there would have a negative impact on Sudan," said Sudanese foreign ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadeq.

Colonial ties

Chadian rebels seized control of large parts of the capital on Saturday, approaching the palace where President Idriss Deby was holding out.

China, a major investor in Chad's growing oil industry, also evacuated 210 of its citizens and two Taiwanese, China's official Xinhua news agency reported.

Mr Deby seized power in a coup in 1990, but has won three elections since then, although their legitimacy has been challenged.

9 Iraqi civilians accidentally killed

The civilians were killed Saturday near Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of the Iraqi capital, U.S. Navy Lt. Patrick Evans told The Associated Press. Three wounded civilians were taken to U.S. military hospitals nearby, he said.

Evans did not give details about exactly how the people died, but said the killings occurred as U.S. forces pursued suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militants. The incident is under investigation, he said.

Iraqi police said the victims, including two women, were in two houses in the village of Tal al-Samar, which was bombed by American warplanes late Saturday. They were all Sunni members of the al-Ghrir tribe, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.

The U.S. airstrike occurred after an American convoy came under enemy fire in Tal al-Samar and soldiers called for air support, the Iraqi officer said.

Shortly after the incident, American officers met with a Muslim sheik representing citizens in the area, Evans said.

"We offer our condolences to the families of those who were killed in this incident, and we mourn the loss of innocent civilian life," he said in a statement e-mailed to the AP.

In November, a leader of one of the so-called awakening councils — groups of Sunni tribesmen allied with American forces who are fighting to oust al-Qaida from their hometowns — said U.S. soldiers killed dozens of his fighters during a 12-hour battle north of Baghdad.

The leader, Mansour Abid Salim of the Taji Awakening Council, accused American troops of mistaking his men for militants. The U.S. military admitted killing 25 men, but said they were insurgents operating "in the target area" where al-Qaida was believed to be hiding.

The U.S. military investigated that incident, but the two versions of events were never reconciled.

A month later, the U.S. military said its forces accidentally killed two people during a raid in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, and that one of them was later revealed to be an awakening council member.

The U.S. military said Monday that it had accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians during an operation targeting al-Qaida in Iraq — the deadliest known case of mistaken identity in recent months.