A Xinhua correspondent said three big explosions were heard just a few hundred meters away from his home and thick smoke was seen going up from residential areas.

The bombardment stopped a minutes after Iraqi anti-aircraft defense opened fire in the sky.

The house of the correspondent, an Iraqi working for Xinhua before the war started on March 20, was shaking violently during the air raids, the latest by coalition forces on Sunday.

Baghdad came under repeated air attack during the day as coalition warplanes were flying relentlessly overhead at low altitude.

(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2003)