The attack came at around 3:05 am (0005 GMT), some 10 minutes after a bridge in the east of the city was targeted in the latest air raids by the US-led forces.

Wednesday's raids mostly hit the south of Baghdad, with a series of loud explosions heard along with anti-aircraft fire.

It was not immediately clear how many bombs hit the presidential palace nor what damage was done.

Qatari-based Al-Jazeera satellite television said the shelling had targeted the Al-Sank telecommunications centre, which it said was the main such centre in the capital.

Early Tuesday, a missile or smart bomb exploded in the heart of the Republican Palace complex, the largest of eight of Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces in Baghdad.

The southern outskirts of Baghdad were pounded by an especially intense bombardment on Tuesday that sent balls of fire and towers of black smoke into the sky.

SPACE.WIRE