The spokesman also said that Iraq has replaced its air defence commander because of poor performance against the US-led coalition.

"A large number of Iraqi surface-to-air missiles have been malfunctioning. Many have failed to hit their targets and have fallen back on to Baghdad before exploding," the spokesman said.

"Civil defence workers have been instructed to remove Iraqi missile fragments which have fallen on residential areas before journalists arrive on the scene," he added.

The spokesman said Britain also had information "that the regime have replaced their commander of air defence, Musahim Saab al-Tikriti, who is a cousin of (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein, because of the poor performance of Iraq's air defences against coalition aircraft."

His replacement is General Shahin Yasin Muhammad al-Tikriti, who has been recalled from retirement, the spokesman added without saying when the appointment was made.

In Washington, a US defense official said the US military is nearing a conclusion that US airstrikes may have caused explosions that tore through a Baghdad neighborhood Wednesday, reportedly killing 14 civilians and wounding 30 others.

US officials have also raised the possibility that the bombings may have come from Iraqi missiles or anti-aircraft fire falling back on the capital.

Wednesday's incident was the first of two that have brought home the dangers to civilians of the US bombings that have struck government buildings and leadership compounds in the Iraqi capital.

Iraq says 14 civilians were killed and some 30 more wounded Wednesday from two explosions that rocked the working-class "city of the people" in northern Baghdad, a cluster of residential homes, workshops and car mechanics' garages.

The US military also is investigating a second incident Friday night in which the An-Nasser marketplace in the predominantly Shiite Al-Shula district was rocked by explosions that left at least 30 dead and dozens injured.

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