This seemed to be the second wave of air strikes launched by the coalition warplanes on Sunday.

At least four huge blasts rocked central Baghdad in the early hours of Sunday, and plumes of smoke were seen shooting into the sky above the area.

It remained unclear what targets were hit in the Sunday air strikes, but a residential area inhabited mainly by high-level government officials might have been hit.

The southern and eastern parts of Baghdad were blanketed with black smoke caused by burning oil-filled trenches which were set ablaze by Iraqi troops to produce a smokescreen to confuse enemy planes.

Baghdad, home to 5 million people, has been under devastating bombings daily over the past 11 days since the outbreak of the US-led war against Iraq on March 20.

Meanwhile, the southern Iraqi city of Basra also came under fresh US-British aerial raids early Sunday, the Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV reported.

At least 1,000 Iraqi soldiers have been holing up in Basra to put up ferocious resistance against British troops who have laid a virtual siege of the second largest Iraqi city.

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2003)