Tony Blair stood shoulder to shoulder with George Bush last night and vowed to hound Saddam Hussein for "as long as it takes" to drive him from power.

Mr Blair refused to be drawn on suggestions that the war could last months.

Speaking at President Bush's Camp David retreat, he said "an enormous amount" had been achieved since the war began but live round-the-clock coverage made it possible for people to think the campaign was dragging on.

Both leaders condemned the "execution" of two British soldiers and the displaying of their bodies on television as evidence of the "depravity" of Saddam's rule.

Mr Blair, offered his condolences to the families and friends of the men, whose bodies were shown on Arabic satellite broadcaster al Jazeera lying spread-eagled on a dusty road.

He condemned "the parading of prisoners of war, and now the release of those pictures of executed British soldiers".

The pair were named as Sapper Luke Allsopp, 24, of north London, and Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth, 36, from Essex - both members of a specialist bomb disposal unit of the Royal Engineers, based at barracks in Essex.

Later, asked what evidence Mr Blair had for his use of the word execution to describe the killing of the soldiers, the Prime Minister's official spokesman told reporters travelling with the Premier: "It is terrible to talk in these terms but since we don't have the two bodies, we cannot be absolutely sure.

"But every piece of information we have points in the direction of these men having been executed in a very brutal fashion.

"That evidence includes the fact that the two bodies were some distance from the vehicles in which they were travelling, and that they had lost their protective equipment."

At Camp David, Mr Blair and Mr Bush pledged to continue the war until Saddam's regime had been crushed.

Mr Blair said: "If the world walks away from the security threat facing us, think of the signals that would have sent right across the world to every brutal dictator, to every terrorist group."

President Bush said: "Slowly but surely the grip of terror around the throats of the Iraqi people is being loosened.

"Iraq will be disarmed, the Iraqi regime will be ended and the long-suffering Iraqi people will be free."

Mr Blair also called on the United Nations to resume the oil-for-food programme upon which millions of Iraqis rely for the essentials of life.

Last night, the Iraqi regime predicted that US forces would surround Baghdad within five to ten days - but were destined to spend months embroiled in savage street fighting.

Defence minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed said the Allies would have to enter the city eventually. He warned: "God willing, Baghdad will be impregnable. We will fight to the end."

Meanwhile, British forces were yesterday celebrating one of most spectacular coups of the war so far, wiping out a squadron of Iraqi tanks outside Basra in southern Iraq, which has been surrounded by UK forces.

The British tank victory appeared to signal an upturn in Allied fortunes.

South of Baghdad, the sandstorm which had slowed the US drive to the capital died away and Allied jets took to the skies in force, destroying Iraqi units as they approached US forces near Karbala, 50 miles south-west of the capital.

And in the north, about 1,000 US Army troops from the 173rd Airborne parachuted into an air base to open a new, third front against Saddam Hussein. They were reinforced by more troops and equipment yesterday.

In Baghdad, heavy bombing continued and Iraqi officials claimed many civilians were killed. Anti-war campaigners in the UK claimed up to 300 Iraqi civilians had died so far.

As the conflict intensified, Chancellor Gordon Brown announced the war chest was being beefed up by £1.25bn to £3bn.

Mr Brown also told MPs he was allocating an extra £120m to the Department for International Development for humanitarian relief and reconstruction.

28/03/2003