A wounded Iraqi child in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, March 23 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Seventy-seven civilians were killed and 366 others injured by U.S. air strikes on the southern Iraqi city of Basra, Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf said Sunday, March 23.

The dead and the injured were victims of cluster bombs, he told a press conference in Baghdad, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

U.S. and British war planes began their attacks on Basra around 11.30 am (0830 GMT) Saturday, March 22, initially bombing the outskirts, but then targeting objectives in the city, according to Qatar-based satellite television channel Al-Jazeera.

General Tommy Franks, head of the U.S. command, said Saturday he had no plans to move on Basra, Iraq's second city and main port, but would prefer to work with civilians there "who are welcoming the forces as they come in."

Escorted journalists in Baghdad reported that at least two people were injured and four houses destroyed in a raid Saturday evening on a residential area of Baghdad, AFP reported.

The strike took place at 7:30 p.m. (1630 GMT), according to witnesses. Six projectiles hit the area in Qadissiya district, close to Yarmuk hospital, the capital's biggest.

A group of journalists was shown the partial or total destruction of a group of houses and a crater measuring 20 meters (66 feet) wide and 10 meters deep.

According to residents, there was no military objective in this part of the Iraqi capital.

A series of blasts erupted in the suburbs of Baghdad early Sunday - the fourth day of invasion - after a night of massive explosions that temporarily cut power to the city.

But the bombings lacked the intensity of raids unleashed on Baghdad Friday night, which Iraqi authorities said left three dead and more than 200 wounded.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Ambassador to Russia said Sunday that a Russian national, possibly a journalist, was among the people killed in the U.S. led bombing of Basra.

The Russian was taken to hospital in Basra, where he died from his wounds, Ambassador Abbas Khalaf told the Interfax news agency, reported AFP.

Documents confirming his nationality were found on his body, the envoy said. He was unable to give the Russian's name.

Russian officials said on Saturday they could not confirm media reports that a Russian national was among the dead in Basra, a strategic city on the main route to Baghdad from the Gulf and Kuwait.

"All Russian citizens working in Iraq, including in the south, were evacuated," Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said on Saturday.

All the others - including a skeleton diplomatic staff and journalists - were in Baghdad, he added.

Qatar-based Arab satellite television channel Al-Jazeera reported on Saturday that a Russian national was among the 50 people killed in the bombardment of Basra.

In another development, four Jordanian students were killed when a missile exploded near their car as they were driving out of Mosul, in northern Iraq, to flee U.S. and British bombardments, a government official said Sunday, reported AFP.

The official told AFP that the incident occurred Saturday night when the four Jordanian students "who were in Mosul were killed when a missile exploded near their car".

The four were preparing to leave Iraq, at the time of the incident, the official added. Jordan last week advised some 3,000 students enrolled in Iraqi universities to evacuate and most arrived two days later at the border, said AFP.