NEAR BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The first U.S. military planes landed at Baghdad's international airport Sunday night as U.S. forces tightened their control over the Iraqi capital, U.S. military officials said.

Army officials told CNN's Walter Rodgers that two C-130s and a C-17 cargo plane were flying into the city under the cover of darkness, two days after U.S. troops captured the facility.

U.S. Marines and Army forces control all roads into and out of Baghdad, encircling the city, according to Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"It is a huge perimeter," Pace said on CNN's "Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer." "I don't want your viewers to think there's a soldier every 10 or 15 feet. But we do control all the roads."

Forces from the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division made reconnaissance forays into Baghdad for the second day Sunday and faced sporadic resistance, said Rodgers, who is embedded with the division's 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry. (On the Scene)

U.S. Central Command said more than 2,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed or wounded Saturday when coalition forces swept through Baghdad on initial reconnaissance missions.

At a briefing Sunday at Central Command headquarters in Qatar, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said the coalition force "continues to isolate Baghdad, denying any reinforcements or any escape by regime military forces."

Another Central Command spokesman said Iraqi forces were using the Mother of All Battles Mosque and Saddam Hospital -- both on the coalition's "no-strike" list in Baghdad -- as bases of military operations.

Marines have raided a camp in the town of Salman Pak used to train non-Iraqi fighters in terror tactics, said Brooks, adding that coalition forces have encountered a number of non-Iraqi troops in battle.

"Some came from Sudan ... Egypt," he said. "We've killed a number of them, and we've captured a number of them."

Meanwhile, a column of U.S. Marine Corps vehicles moved slowly north Sunday morning toward Baghdad, taking aim at small pockets of resistance.

The 1st Battalion, 7th Marines was held back for part of the night by heavy fighting, reported CNN Correspondent Martin Savidge, who is embedded with the unit.

Iraq contends it is making progress in resisting U.S. forces. At a briefing, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf talked of the destruction of tanks and armored personnel carriers and the downing of two Apache helicopters.

Denying that U.S. troops are occupying Baghdad's airport, al-Sahaf said, "The enemy was destroyed and retreated." He said U.S. forces got close enough to the airport to make it look as if they were there but that reports of U.S. troops in the area were nothing more than "propaganda."