A U.S. marine holds his weapon in the desert on the western outskirts of Basra

DOHA, March 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Some 50 civilians, including a Russian national, were killed in an Anglo-American bombardment of the southern city of Basra on Saturday, March 22, the Qatar-based satellite channel Al-Jazeera reported.

It said the toll was compiled by its correspondent in the city from one hospital. A large number of people were also wounded in the raids.

Al-Jazeera's Mohammad al-Abdallah, the only foreign correspondent in Basra , said that over the previous two days only the outskirts had been targeted, but on Saturday the bombs hit targets inside the city itself.

Coalition planes began their bombardment at 11.30 a.m. (0830 GMT) on Saturday, he said.

A 11-member family, with a two-year-old child, were among the 50 killed, Abdullah added, but he did not say if there were soldiers among the victims.

The Iraqi capital Baghdad came under massive bombardment late Friday, March 21, by at least 320 missiles that turned vast sections of the Iraqi capital into an inferno.

The British and U.S. bombing blitz wounded 207 civilians, most of them women and children, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf said Saturday.

The casualties, who were being cared for in five different hospitals around the capital, were "hit in their homes", Sahhaf told a news conference.

Britain Claims Iraq Regulars Out Of Basra

Regular units of the Iraqi forces appear to have pulled out of the strategic southern city of Basra , British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon claimed Saturday.

"Our forces are close to Basra ," Hoon told a press briefing at the Ministry of Defence in London .

"It appears to be the case that regular Iraqi armed forces have withdrawn from Basra ," he alleged.

He cautioned, however, that "elements of Saddam's security services" were still in position, "maintaining resistance."

The chief of the British armed forces, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, claimed the Iraqi 51st division had surrendered in the Basra area and there now were "many thousands" of prisoners of war.

The so-called "Desert Rats" of the British army's 7th Armoured Brigade were in the region and would be looking to consolidate their position throughout the day, he added.

Boyce claimed all of Iraq 's oil and gas installations had been mined or booby-trapped, showing that Saddam was "prepared to blow up his entire economy."

On the air war, Boyce said U.S.-British warplanes had flown more than 3,000 sorties, armed "with a large package of precision weapons," and that British submarines had fired Tomahawk cruise missiles.