There have been further explosions around the Iraqi capital Baghdad, and correspondents are reporting that large parts of the city have been plunged into darkness.
In aerial bombardment by US and British forces over the past days, power supply had not previously been affected.
A little earlier at least seven explosions have been heard in Baghdad following a succession of air and missile raids on the fringes of the city through the day.
Anti-aircraft artillery was heard firing but no warplanes were immediately observed, correspondents said. Inexplicably, no air raid sirens sounded.
The streets of the Iraqi capital emptied with the launch of the new assault and the only sound heard after the bombing stopped was the muezzin's call to prayer.
Fuel trenches set ablaze on the perimeter of the city earlier today were still burning as the latest allied bombing raid began.
Reporters say Iraqi forces have set fire to oil-filled trenches around the city in an apparent bid to create a smokescreen to reduce visibility for the attackers. Correspondents they have seen at least two dozen fires.
Iraq appeals to UN
Iraq has asked the United Nations to condemn and halt the US and British invasion.
In a statement to the UN Security Council, read on Iraqi television, the Foreign Minister, Naji Sabri, described the invasion as a threat to international and regional peace.
Baghdad came under the heaviest air assault to date on Friday night as US commanders launched the ‘shock and awe’ phase of the invasion aimed at toppling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Iraqi officials said earlier that three people had been killed at least 207 wounded in last night's heavy bombardment which Britain said involved up to 3,000 missiles.
Saddam Hussein shown in Iraqi TV
Iraqi television has showed President Saddam Hussein chairing three meetings with top advisors on the war with the United States and Britain.
It showed Saddam in military uniform and said his aides ‘voiced satisfaction at the resistance and heroism displayed by the armed forces, fighters of the Baath Party and tribesmen’ against US and British forces who thrust into southern Iraq.
It did not say where or when the meetings were held.
