BAGHDAD, April 2 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf on Wednesday, April 2, accused the U.S.-led occupation forces of bombing mosques and trying to destroy the most sacred tombs of the Shiites in the holy cities of An-Najaf and Karbala.

"They have bombarded some mosques in An-Najaf and Kabala," AL-Jazeera satellite channel quoted him as telling a press conference in the Iraqi capital.

He charged the Anglo-American troops of trying to destroy the tombs of imams Ali and Hussein in An-Najaf and Karbala by sending warplanes screeching low over the holy sites, and warned of a Shiite outcry.

"They are trying to crack the buildings by flying low over them," he said. "This will be scorned by all Shiites all over the world," Sahhaf asserted.

The Iraqi information minister, in addition, denied reports of U.S. advances in the Karbala area and in Al-Kut province.

"What they have mentioned about a breakthrough, this is completely opposition the facts on the ground," he said.

The U.S. military for its part claimed Iraqi forces were firing on American and British forces from An-Najaf's Ali mosque.

10 Killed, 90 Injured in Baghdad Bombing

Anglo-American bombardment of Baghdad on Tuesday, April 1, claimed the lives of 10 civilians and left nearly 90 others wounded, Sahhaf said Wednesday.

Twice on Tuesday strong explosions were heard in the area south of Baghdad, where fire and smoke could be seen, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent confirmed.

No information was immediately available on the targets hit.

Sahhaf also said that 14 people had been killed in U.S.-British attacks elsewhere in Iraq, including the provinces of Niniveh in the north, Babylon south of Baghdad and Muthana in the south, and nearly 100 wounded, 58 of them in Babylon.

Iraqis Attack British Forces Besieging Basra

Iraqi fighters holding off British forces surrounding the southern city of Basra fired missiles overnight but failed to hit anything, British journalists traveling with the troops said Wednesday.

Three Seersucker missiles -- adapted anti-ship, Chinese-made weapons -- sailed over the heads of the British soldiers to land in empty desert, the reporters said.

A specialist in unconventional weapons attached to the Royal Commandos said the missile launches posed very little danger to the British forces.

"The Seersucker is much, much smaller than a Scud and we don't think it can be converted to carry any significant NBC (nuclear-biological-chemical) payload," he said.

He added that the missiles were flying "blind" because the Iraqis had not activated their radar guidance out of fear that the emissions would be picked up by Anglo-American aircraft and destroyed.

Up to now, the British soldiers, tanks and artillery have been concentrating on the outskirts of Basra, taking "bite-sized chunks" of outer suburbs and assimilated towns in the words of one British military spokesman Tuesday.

A U.S. military spokeswoman said Wednesday "the mission is continuing" with artillery shelling of Iraqi positions in the city and British checkpoints to stop the inflow of any weapons.

But Iraq's defense told journalists in Baghdad that Iraqi forces had killed 19 coalition soldiers and shot down three helicopters around Basra on Tuesday.

He also charged that British troops were firing on Iraqi civilians, an accusation denied by British officials.