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Thunderous explosions rocked Baghdad on Friday and a towering column of churning orange smoke rose over the skyline after a break in the weather opened the way for the mightiest bombardment of the Iraqi capital in days.

U.S. warplanes and sea-launched Tomahawk missiles pounded the city in a barrage that included some of the most fearsome weapons in the coalition arsenal: two 4,700-pound, satellite-guided "bunker-busting" bombs, dropped by a B-2 stealth bomber on a major communications tower on the Tigris River in downtown Baghdad.

The bombing, which started shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday, was aimed at disrupting communications between Saddam Hussein's leadership and his military, U.S. officials said. Air strikes also targeted positions of the Republican Guard Saddam's best-trained, best-equipped fighters in a ring outside the city.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said the overnight air strikes had killed seven people in Baghdad and wounded 92.

The air strikes hit at or near the Information and Planning ministries and at telephone installations "as if government buildings are empty of human beings and there are no civilians in them," Sahhaf said.

The attack gutted a seven-story telephone exchange building in an area called Al-Alwya, leaving the street strewn with slabs of concrete, irons rods and corrugated metal.

Husein Moeini, telecommunications director of Baghdad, said he believed people were buried beneath the rubble, but journalists who arrived at the scene less than three hours after it was hit did not see a rescue operation under way.

At a second telephone exchange, Al-Rasheed, the 10-story building was largely intact, except for some broken windows. Next to it, however, was a huge crater in the road where Iraqi officials said a missile apparently lodged without exploding.

Muslim cleric Abdel-Ghafour Al-Quisi, with a Kalashnikov rifle resting against the pulpit, delivered a fiery sermon on state TV on Friday, the Muslim holy day.

"May God install terror in the hearts of our enemies, and set against them invisible soldiers," he said in a sermon delivered at one of Baghdad's largest mosques, in the heart of the city.

"Their dead are in hell because they have launched aggression against a Muslim nation," he said, referring to felled coalition soldiers. "We are fighting guided by our faith. And we only depend on God."

As the imam spoke, a crowd of fervent worshippers interrupted his sermon with shouts of: "God is great!"

The people of Baghdad knew a punishing attack was coming after a two-day sandstorm that had grounded many coalition warplanes gave way to blue skies Thursday.

Powerful explosions continued through the night and after the sun rose, with aircraft swooping low over the city. Anti-aircraft fire was intermittent.

On Friday, gray smoke drifted across the capital from the bombings and from fires started by authorities to conceal targets. Police and ambulance sirens wailed.

Hours before the bombardment, Iraq's defense minister was defiant, insisting the real battle for Baghdad will be a drawn-out fight in the streets of the city of 5 million.

"The enemy must come inside Baghdad, and that will be its grave," Sultan Hashim Ahmed said. "We feel that this war must be prolonged so the enemy pays a high price."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, however, suggested American troops might lay siege to the capital rather than invade, in hopes its citizens will rise up against the government.

During the night's bombardment, aircraft and Tomahawk missiles "took out communications and command and control facilities in the capital city," said Lt. Cmdr. Charles Owens, a spokesman at the command center in Qatar.

The Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera said Baghdad's main telephone exchange was hit. Still, telephones were working in many parts of the city Friday morning.

Iraq's satellite television channel was cutting in and out after the air strikes. The U.S. forces had hoped to knock out Saddam's propaganda outlets.

Also targeted was a building inside the Old Palace presidential compound on the west bank of the Tigris, which includes a camp of the Republican Guard attacked last week. An explosion about 700 yards west of the Information Ministry sent scores of journalists fleeing.

Witnesses said an unknown number of people were killed and injured in an attack on a housing complex for employees of a weapons-producing facility.

In northern Iraq, the Mosul area was also targeting by strikes Thursday night.

Iraqi state television reported that Saddam chaired a meeting of the ruling Baath Party, his top aides and his son, Qusai. No video was shown, but it was reported that Saddam and the leadership urged Iraqi fighters to exploit the "exhaustion" of coalition forces.

Silent video was shown of another meeting of Saddam, Qusai and other party officials.

photo credit and caption:

A 155mm Howitzer, seen in this image from video, fires Thursday, March 27, 2003, as the coalition artillery barage continues amid a renewed offensive against Baghdad. (AP Photo/APTN)

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