The coalition forces, which accused Iraq of setting its own oil fields ablaze, hit Baghdad for the sixth straight day.

Thunderous explosions were heard throughout the air assault, in which an unknown number of coalition war planes targeted the Republican Guard units.

Earlier in the day, six large explosions were heard in the capital and coalition warplanes were seen flying over Baghdad.

The US military said that the air assaults conducted over the last 36 hours were chiefly directed at the Iraqi Republican Guard, including the Medina Division that is considered among the most loyal to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

It also said some changes of tactics are expected in the upcoming air war against Iraq, following the loss of an Apache helicopter whose pilots have been taken prisoner.

The US claimed that some of its ground forces are now only 100 kilometers away from Baghdad. Now, the coalition forces are closing in on the Iraqi capital despite fierce resistance from the Iraqi troops.

In view of the intensified attack growing humanitarian crisis in Iraq, the Arab Group at the United Nations on Tuesday called for an urgent Security Council meeting to cope with the "US aggression" against the Arab country.

On Monday, Iraqi foreign minister Nagi Sabri warned in an exclusive interview with Xinhua in Cairo that the "imperialist aggression" against Iraq will lead to instability of the Arab countries and many other regions in the world,

Sabri, who was in Cairo to attend a meeting of Arab foreign ministers on forming a common Arab stance on the US-led war against Iraq, said that Iraq would not bow to the US aggression as the war against Iraq only serves the interests of Israel and US military, industrial and oil interests groups. Iraqi forces have seized a number of coalition prisoners of war (POW) and downed some warplanes of the enemy, he said.

Sabri denounced the evil coalition missile and bomb attacks on the Iraqi cities to destroy the will of Iraqis, saying that "the evil coalition created an illusion in its soldiers that they would go to Iraq on a journey. Then they discovered that Iraq is not a place for them to go on a journey, but it is a grave for its invaders."

Also on Monday, a White House official said that US President George W. Bush will meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair this week at the White House to discuss the war on Iraq.

(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2003)