Massive armada of U.S. bombers strikes Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. warplanes, including a massive armada of long-range bombers, pounded leadership positions in Baghdad, and missiles ignited a fire that raged before dawn Monday at the Iraqi Information Ministry.

The blaze, yards away from a shopping mall named for Saddam Hussein's birthday, was put out after about 30 minutes.

The attacks targeted leadership and command and control centers in Baghdad and were carried out simultaneously by multiple B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers, the U.S. Central Command said. The command said it was the first time in history that the long-range strike aircraft targeted the same geographical area at the same time.

Another series of massive explosions shook the Iraqi capital as dawn was breaking today, and the sound of aircraft was heard overhead. It was not immediately known what was hit.

'God is great'

Recorded calls of "God is great" from mosque minarets alerted the people of Baghdad to another night of bombings late Sunday, followed by a massive explosion and then the streaks of anti-aircraft gunners' tracers across the sky.

In the past few nights, the mosque loudspeakers have been used instead of air-raid sirens -- with the all-clear signaled by another minaret announcement: "God is great, they are gone."

The strike on the Information Ministry shook the city around 2 a.m. today. Abu Dhabi television showed live footage of the blaze, which it said was in the ministry's press center. Central Command in Qatar said Tomahawk cruise missiles targeted the ministry in a strike "to reduce ... command and control capabilities."

Firefighters sprayed the blaze near the "28 April Shopping Center," which is located across the street from the ministry and whose name commemorates the Iraqi leader's birthday.

A Tomahawk missile hit the ministry building before dawn Saturday, gutting one floor and destroying many of the satellite dishes on the roof. Foreign journalists have been working at a parking area opposite the building where they had moved for fear of attacks on the ministry.

Coalition bombardments have focused in recent days on positions of the Republican Guard -- Saddam's best trained fighters -- protecting the approaches to Baghdad, in an attempt to wear them down ahead of a U.S.-led ground assault on the capital.

In a "key strike" earlier Sunday, coalition aircraft bombed the barracks of the main training center of the Iraqi paramilitary forces in eastern Baghdad's Rustamiyah area, said the U.S. Central Command. It said the forces targeted were in charge of security functions in eastern Baghdad.

In addition, aircraft used satellite-guided munitions to target command and control facilities at the Abu Gharayb Presidential Palace, near Saddam International Airport, and two facilities at the Karada Intelligence Complex, a statement from Central Command said.

Two surface-to-air missile complexes in eastern Baghdad also were targeted by satellite-guided munitions, the U.S. military said.

Residents and officials in Baghdad said at least four telecommunication installations were hit, but were believed to have been empty during the overnight attacks.

Next door to the demolished telephone office in Baghdad's A'azamiah district, 70-year-old Adel Hussein al-Abdali sat lamenting the damage to his home.

"That Bush is a despicable coward," al-Abdali told a crowd of journalists escorted to the site by the Information Ministry. "But we will be victorious with the help of God."

The A'azamiah telephone office was gutted in strikes early Sunday. None of al-Abdali's nine-member family was hurt because they spent the night at a shelter.

The Salhiya telephone exchange, a three-story building that serves about 200,000 subscribers, was struck several times. Nearly eight hours later, the building still smoldered, and mangled iron dangled over a street strewn with office equipment -- rolls of printer paper, desks, cabinets, wires and chairs.

The force of the blast shattered the windows of the Saddam Center for Cardiac Surgery across the street, and damaged a house next door.

"Thanks be to God, none of us was hurt," said Zeinab Fouad, who lives in the damaged house with her husband, Nafaa Abu Ali, and their five children.

Iraqi officials accused coalition warplanes of bombing a cooking gas cylinder-filling factory in the southern city of Qurnah on Saturday morning, according to state-run Iraqi satellite television. The officials complained that the factory was in a residential neighborhood. Qurnah, at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, is the site of the biblical Garden of Eden, according to some traditions.