Warplanes pounded forward Iraqi positions in the north of the country on Wednesday as U.S. efforts to open a second, limited front against President Saddam Hussein's forces gathered pace. Five large explosions threw up plumes of black smoke on the hilltops overlooking Chamchamal, a town in the Kurd-controlled Iraqi enclave wrested from Baghdad after the 1991 Gulf War . Local Kurds, bitter enemies of Saddam's government, cheered after each explosion. Kurdish "peshmerga" fighters looked on from a high point in the town.

But a Kurdish commander controlling the area around Chamchamal, which lies 35 km (22 miles) east of the key oil city of Kirkuk which Saddam controls, said the Americans needed to do more to rout the Iraqi forces effectively.

"I don't like this kind of attack," Mam Rostam told Reuters in Chamchamal minutes after the bombing ended. "It needs to be much heavier if they want to bring a swift end to this war." In Kalak, some 25 miles east of the city of Mosul, a Reuters television correspondent saw four large explosions strike Iraqi government lines on a hilltop.

"These are the first daytime raids we have seen so close to Kalak," said Soheil Afdjei, adding that four thick columns of smoke rose above the target area.

A single jet could be heard flying in cloud overhead.

Reuters correspondent Jon Hemming said Mosul had also come under attack, with five explosions being heard from the city.

"There's a big column of black smoke rising into the sky," he said, adding that there was no sign of anti-aircraft fire.

The increased presence of U.S. forces in the Kurdish zone, and escalating bombardment of frontlines and the nearby cities of Kirkuk and Mosul, appear to be part of attempts by the United States to open a second front against Saddam.

But, after Turkey's parliament blocked permission for over 60,000 U.S. troops to enter northern Iraq , it is unclear how much of a threat they can pose Saddam's forces in the north.

Rostam said he knew of no plans for "peshmergas" to cross the frontline and launch an offensive from his area.

SOLDIERS RUN AWAY

He said Iraqi soldiers dug in on hilltops just three to four km (2 to 3 miles) away appeared to have run away. He added there had been a total of seven attacks since Tuesday night, hitting hilltops bunkers and positions nine miles west at Qarahanjir.

Warplanes also flew over the nearby city of Sulaimaniya early on Wednesday, apparently on their way to hit areas near the Iranian border held by the radical Ansar al-Islam group which Washington accuses of having links with al Qaeda.

"I think the attacks were heavier around there last night," Rostam said of the Ansar raids. "That operation could well be finished in the next few days."

Kurdish officials have said recent bombing sorties inflicted heavy losses on Ansar, a group said to number several hundred fighters active in mountains near the town of Halabja.

But there has been no independent confirmation of claims of up to 60 Ansar killed.

The group is blamed for a string of attacks on Kurdish targets and is said to have been behind a suicide bombing at a checkpoint near Halabja last week that killed several people including an Australian journalist.

PHOTO CAPTION

Warplanes presumably from US-led forces pound frontline Iraqi positions in the north of the country just outside the Kurd-controlled town of Chamchamal on March 26, 2003. Warplanes hit northern targets as U.S. efforts to open a second, limited front against President Saddam Hussein's forces gathered pace. (Nikola Solic/Reuters)