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— BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S.-British bombing on Thursday killed 49 civilians and injured some 208 people, with the central city of Najaf suffering the heaviest losses, Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said on Friday.

"The enemy hit civilian areas in Najaf before our valiant forces successfully beat them back. Until last night, the toll from this bombing was 60 wounded and 26 martyrs," Sahaf told a news conference.

He said they were the victims of cluster bombs, which spread bomblets over a wide area. The British denied on Thursday that cluster-bombs had been used in the war aimed at ousting President Saddam Hussein.

Seven people died in bombing on Baghdad and 92 were wounded, Sahaf said, making clear he was talking only about civilians.

Eleven more died in Kerbala, some 70 miles south of Baghdad, which is in the sights of the invading forces.

All these figures related to casualties reported since Thursday. But referring to the southern city of Basra, Sahaf said that 116 people had died and 695 had been injured there since U.S. led forces opened the war on March 20.

NAJAF FIGHTING

A U.S. officer said American brigades advancing on Baghdad battled around 1,500 Iraqis overnight near Najaf, 100 miles south of the capital. Reuters reporter Luke Baker, near the city, said U.S. forces used tanks and heavy artillery.

Sahaf said Iraqis had pushed their adversaries 31 miles back from Najaf. In fighting on Thursday in the south of the country, Iraqi troops had also destroyed 33 tanks and armored cars and killed four of their foes, he told reporters.

He predicted victory in the nine-day-old war with U.S.-led forces who have met stiffer than expected resistance, including guerrilla attacks that have exposed supply lines as they push toward Baghdad, leaving smaller towns unsecured behind them.

"The imperialist invading U.S. and British forces are like a snake that slithers all over the place but that doesn't control anything," he said.

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