Baghdad

Seven huge explosions rocked central and southern parts of Baghdad at dawn Wednesday, the Al Jazeera TV reported.

Seven huge explosions rocked central and southern parts of the Iraqi capital Baghdad at dawn Wednesday in day seven of the US-led war on Iraq, the Al Jazeera TV reported.

It remained unclear what targets were hit, but one huge explosion struck near the Information Ministry and the state television, where black smoke was seen rising, the Qatar-based television reported live from Baghdad.

The broadcasting of the Iraqi state television was cut after the explosion.

Meanwhile, six large explosions hit the southern outskirts of the Iraqi capital at about 5 a.m. (0200 GMT), breaking a five-hour lull in air raids by the US-British forces.

Earlier, around midnight, four loud explosions were heard in the western outskirts of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, the US Media reports said on Tuesday the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division has drawn to within about 80 kilometers (50 miles) of Baghdad, with the Medina armored division of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard in its path.

Major-General Victor Renuart said on Tuesday that coalition forces were "on track" in their move towards Baghdad despite the adverse impact of sandstorms on the battlefield.

"We are maintaining and increasing pressure on all fronts, even in the bad weather," Renuart boasted at the daily briefing in US Central Command in Doha.

Southern Iraq

An Iraqi senior official late Tuesday denied reports that a popular uprising is under way in Iraq's second largest city of Basra, Al Jazeera TV reported.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Said Al-Sahaf made the denial in a statement to the Al Jazeera, the report said, without giving details.

Earlier media reports said that some Iraqis on Tuesday staged a popular uprising against President Saddam in Basra, which came under mortar fire from forces loyal to Baghdad.

Basra has been under US-led coalition forces' strikes since the war on Iraq started on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, a US F-16 plane hit a Patriot battery by mistake near Iraq's southern Shiite city of Najaf, Al-Jazeera TV reported.

The bombing knocked out its radar but causing no casualties, Lt. Mark Kitchens, a US Central Command spokesman, was quoted as confirming, adding it took place on Monday about 30 miles (48 km) from Najaf.

The F-16 fired an AGM-88 high-speed anti-radiation missile at the battery and damaged its radar, the spokesman said.

On Tuesday, US Aircraft from USS Constellation Battle Group successfully destroyed three significant Iraqi naval targets, according to a press release by the US Navy Fifth Fleet.

The aircraft involved received short-order tasking for a time-sensitive strike to engage several naval targets in the vicinity of Basra, the press release said.

The US-led coalition forces met with fiercer resistance than previously anticipated Tuesday in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, Al-Jazeera Satellite TV reported.

The invading forces pounded Nasiriya with artillery fire and missiles in an attempt to cross the Euphrates and then advance on the Iraqi capital, the channel added.

Some British paratroopers reached the deepest area in southern Iraq on Tuesday aboard RAF military helicopters, according to CNN.

The all-news network quoted the commander of the troops as saying they would establish a frontline base northwest of the oil wells in Romeila.

A column of about 4,000 US marines crossed the Euphrates River in the city of Nasiriyah on Tuesday.

Iraqi air defense forces shot down another coalition warplane over southern Baghdad at 3:30 p.m. 1230 GMT a witness said.

The pilot ejected from the aircraft before it crashed, and landed by parachute into the Tigris River in the capital city, the witness said, adding that many Baghdad citizens were searching along the river to locate the pilot.

Northern Iraq

The US-led coalition forces have achieved very little in the north. They launched the heaviest air strikes in and around Mosul, a key northern Iraqi city, on Tuesday.

In a related development, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Tuesday in Ankara that Turkey would take its own decision on Northern Iraq when necessary, the Anatolian News Agency reported.

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2003)