The top floor of the 11-storey city centre building, from where the regime runs its propaganda campaign and maintains a strict control over the media, was gutted.

No one was reported injured but the force of the blast, at a time when the high-rise is usually empty, was felt down to the ground floor where water-pipes burst.

Satellite dishes on the roof were also damaged as the capital was pounded by heavy bombardment. Iraq's state-run Internet company is housed on the 11th floor.

In the international press centre, which gives onto the street, windows were blown out. In AFP's office two television sets and technical equipment were strewn over the floor.

"The ministry of information in Baghdad was targetted by Tomahawk missiles early today (March 29)," US Central Command announced in a statement.

"Official battle damage assessment is not yet available," it said, but noted television pictures showed extensive damage.

The higher floors of the building, near the Tigris river, also house the office of Information Minister Mohammad Said Al-Sahhaf who has been the public face of Iraq's propaganda effort in the war.

Debris was scattered across street surrounding the building, home to the official Iraqi News Agency and the heart of Iraq's propaganda campaign and strict media control.

Loud blasts rocked the Iraqi capital again shortly after 7:00 amas the outskirts came under renewed bombardment.

The dull, distant thuds echoed over the city as the US-led offensive to oust President Saddam Hussein rolled on.

Some 38 people were killed and 80 were wounded from the repeated bombings in Baghdad on Friday.

At least 30 of them died and 47 where wounded when a missile hit a market, hospital officials said in the largest reported loss of civilian life in the capital since the war began.

The attack came after the fiercest US-led air strikes to date battered the Baghdad area with bombs and cruise missiles earlier Friday, hammering communications sites and crack troops guarding the city that Iraq vows is impregnable.

The massive raids marked a new intensity as the United States and Britain backed away from hopes of a quick victory in the war to topple President Saddam Hussein.

It was impossible to verify the exact toll of the air raid on An-Nasser market in the Shiite Muslim neighbourhood of Al-Shula in northwestern Baghdad on what was the second weekly Muslim day of rest since the US-led war was launched on March 20.

The Iraqi information ministry said only that a "large number" of civilians had been killed and injured.

Just two days ago missiles crashed into a housing block in a working class neighbourhood of the capital, killing 14, amid mounting accusations that the US-led coalition is bombing the capital with little regard for civilian life.

"Most of the victims are women, children and old people," Dr. Haqi Razzuqi, head of An-Nur hospital, told AFP, adding that most of the injured were in a serious state.

Razzuqi said there was not a military target in the area around the market, close to the hospital.

US officials have in turn charged Saddam's regime with placing legitimate military targets such as weapons and munitions amongst the civilian population.

Another series of strikes had hit around 11:45 pm (2045 GMT), targeting a building in the main presidential palace in central Baghdad and anti-aircraft batteries quickly responded.

That came on the heels of a strike on Mosul at around 11:40 pm (2040 GMT), according to the correspondent of Al-Jazeera television in the northern city.

Elsewhere in the capital, residents said Iraqi anti-aircraft gunners shot down a US drone. An AFP photographer said it destroyed the roof of a small house but it was unclear if there were injuries.

WAR.WIRE