Medical personnel say at least 55 people were killed and 47 wounded in an air raid on a Baghdad market. The city has been under heavy bombarment for much of the day.
A doctor at Baghdad's Al Noor Hospital said he had counted 55 people killed and more than 47 wounded from the attack at the market in the city's Shula neighbourhood.
Earlier reports said eight people were killed in Baghdad when Iraq's ruling Ba'ath party offices were hit during the heaviest bombing of the war so far.
US Defence officials said that two of the so-called 'bunker buster' bombs were dropped on a communications centre in the city.
It is believed to be the first use of the 4,600-pound bombs on the capital in this conflict. These shells are hardened with depleted uranium and equipped with time-delay fuses.
Earlier Iraq's information minister, Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf, said seven Iraqi civilians were killed and 92 wounded in US and British air strikes on Baghdad overnight.
Reports said the Iraqi capital was the target of the heaviest night of bombardment since US-led forces launched the war over a week ago.
Iraqi missile attack on Kurdish town
Iraqi forces in the North of the country are reported to have launched a missile attack on the Kurdish controlled town of Chamchamal.
It is believed the Iraqi army strike is in retaliation for the advance by the pro-US Kurdish militia towards the northern city of Kirkuk.
Kurdish 'peshmerga' fighters crossed into Iraqi government-controlled territory after Iraqi forces retreated last night and have taken up positions within 12 miles of the key oil field.
Four US marines missing near Nasiriyah
US Central Command has said that four marines are reported to be missing after fierce fighting near the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah.
Earlier US Marines in Nasiriyah said they captured an Iraqi army general, who was picked up at his home.
There were also reports of new air strikes by coalition forces against the southern city this morning.
At least ten explosions were heard in the city and it is reported that an Iraqi command post was destroyed.
Elsewhere US troops and members of Iraq's Fedayeen militia units are engaged in a major battle in the central town of Samawah, the site of a crucial bridge on the way to Baghdad.
Massive US deployment
Washington is insisting the war is on track even though Amercia's senior ground commander in Iraq has admitted that his forces are facing stiffer resistance than expected.
US President George W Bush said tonight that US forces in Iraq were ‘making great progress’, amid worries that unconventional Iraqi tactics and stretched US supply lines may lengthen the war.
He also claimed that the coalition forces had UN backing despite the opposition from countries such as France and Germany.
America's senior ground commander inside Iraq, General William Wallace, said in a newspaper interview that stretched supply lines and stiff Iraqi resistance had stalled the advance towards Baghdad.
Iraq's defence minister said today he expected American-led forces to encircle the Iraqi capital within five to ten days, but he warned they would then have to face fierce street-to-street fighting.
Meanwhile the US military command has admitted that Iraqi resistance has affected the original timetable for combat, and it will now deploy a further 120,000 additional soldiers to assist the invasion of Iraq.
There are about 90,000 US ground forces at present in Iraq.
Troop fighting near Najaf
There are reports that a fierce battle is continuing between US and Iraqi soldiers near the central Iraqi town of Najaf. US troops are trying to advance north towards Baghdad from Najaf, which stands on the River Euphrates.
Iraq has accused Coalition forces of using cluster bombs, and claimed that 26 civilians were killed in the town, and another 60 were wounded. However Britain has denied that cluster bombs were used.
Iraqi troops fire on civilians - UK
British military officials today claimed that Iraqi forces opened fire on civilians trying to flee the southern city of Basra. Reports said mortar bombs were fired near some 1,000 civilians waiting to cross a bridge leading out of the city.
A British Army spokesman said no one was believed to have died in the attack, but one young woman was seriously wounded and several others injured.
Basra siege continues
Earlier, a British officer said Basra was clearly nowhere near being in the control of coalition forces.
Colonel Chris Vernon said the last five days of fighting had made it impossible to get aid into the city, where there have been electricity and water shortages.
British troops who have surrounded Basra are reported to be setting up aid centres on the outskirts of the city to provide food and water to fleeing civilians.
Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf said 116 people had died and 695 had been injured in the southern city since the war began.
