A plume of black smoke rose from the Republican Palace complex on the banks of the Tigris river just after 1:30 pm (1030 GMT).

The same compound, a potent symbol of Saddam's 24-year grip on power, came under intensive attack from coalition bombs at about 3:05 amWednesday, some 10 minutes after a bridge in the east of the city was under fire in the latest air raids by the US-led forces.

A series of explosions was heard later at about 6:50 am (0350 GMT) in the southern outskirts of the capital, where much of the early coalition firepower had been directed on Wednesday.

Iraqi defense forces, including the Republican Guard, are concentrated in the southern outskirts, preparing to repel a ground attack by US-led troops.

And before 09:30 am (0630 GMT) the western and northwestern edge of the city suffered heavy bombardment. A huge cloud of smoke covered the sector.

It was not immediately clear how many bombs hit the presidential palace nor what damage was done.

The southern outskirts of Baghdad were pounded by an especially intense bombardment on Tuesday that sent balls of fire and towers of black smoke into the sky.

WAR.WIRE