US and British forces staged new bombing raids on the Iraqi capital. At least one missile slammed into a compound in central Baghdad belonging to President Saddam Hussein. Earlier, at least eight loud explosions shook the capital with the roar of warplanes and anti-aircraft fire heard overhead. The new raids were carried out on the 12th day of the war unleashed by mainly US and British invasion forces who were inching towards their declared target of Baghdad, where Saddam is believed to be waiting.

US armoured units south of Baghdad finalized plans for a bid on the capital as US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Richard Myers and war chief General Tommy Franks dismissed talk that US forces are under-strength.

US commanders said 20,000 troops in the 3rd Infantry Division, spearheading the invasion and concentrated near the Euphrates valley town of Najaf in central Iraq, were preparing a push north.

But further east near al-Kut on the Tigris, an AFP correspondent said more than 5,000 marines had dug in amid expectations the drive to the capital was still weeks away. Iraq says Baghdad will be a "cemetery" for coalition troops.

Martyr Operations

The Iraqi authorities said meanwhile that 4,000 Arabs had come to the country ready to "martyr" themselves in Palestinian-style resistance strikes against US invasion forces, after an attack Saturday in which four American soldiers were killed.

Iraqi army spokesman General Hazem Al-Rawi told a press conference that "martyr operations," such as Saturday's bombing near the Shiite Muslim holy city of Najaf, would multiply.

He said more than 4,000 volunteers had come from every Arab nation, ready to follow in the footsteps of the Iraqi soldier who carried out the attack. The soldier was posthumously promoted to colonel by Saddam.

Latest Coalition Casualties

In latest confirmed coalition casualties, three US marines were killed when a helicopter crashed in southern Iraq, and a British Royal Marine was reported killed and several others wounded Sunday during an ambush near the southern city of Basra.

Truck Driver Attacks US Military Camp in Kuwait

In northern Kuwait a base employee who rammed a truck into soldiers at a US military camp was in critical condition after being shot during the incident.

A US military spokesman said 15 people were injured at Camp Udairi, one of whom suffered a knee injury and was flown to Germany. The truck driver had sustained two gunshot wounds.

Chorus of Dissent in the United States & Britain

A growing chorus of dissent in the United States and Britain was bolstered by more mass anti-war protests, the largest of them in India, Indonesia and Pakistan where hundreds of thousands took to the streets.

Former British foreign secretary Robin Cook, who resigned from the government in opposition to war with Iraq, marched further into opposition on Sunday by demanding that Britain's troops return from the battlefield.

"I have already had my fill of this bloody and unjust war," Cook wrote in the mass-circulation London newspaper the Sunday Mirror.

"I want our troops home and I want them home before more of them are killed," Cook added.

PHOTO CAPTION

British invasion troops fire a sidewinder missile at an Iraqi bunker (AFP/POOL/Paul Grover)