The loud explosions could be heard from the city center, briefly interrupting a news conference being delivered by Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf.

Baghdad and its outskirts were hit repeatedly overnight and Saturday morning by airstrikes, with at least one missile crashing into Sahhaf's information ministry.

Some 38 people were killed and 80 wounded from the repeated bombings in Baghdad on Friday. At least 30 of them died when a missile hit a market, hospital officials said.

WAR.WIRE