The clinic was empty at the moment of the strike at about 10 amin a central district of Baghdad but around 15 women were waiting at the entrance to undergo tests, Dr. Mohammad Ibrahim, an obstetrician, told AFP.

He said a dozen people, mostly women, were wounded. One woman had a miscarriage as a result of the shock.

The occupant of a Mercedes smashed by the blast died on the spot, a policeman at the site said. The driver of a red Toyota, which was also destroyed by the bombing, was seriously wounded.

Like many medical establishments in Baghdad, the clinic was closed as a precautionary measure when the United States and Britain launched war on Iraq on March 20. Hospitals are only handling emergencies.

A man who worked at a flower shop at the clinic's entrance had to have a leg amputated, according to clinic employee Ali Abdul Halim. Both the flower shop and an adjacent pharmacy were destroyed.

The strike reduced several pavilions on the site of the Baghdad International Fair, opposite the clinic in the al-Mansur district, to rubble.

The Arab satellite television Al-Jazeera earlier Wednesday broadcast footage of the Red Crescent maternity clinic hit in the air strikes.

The Qatar-based station showed destroyed rooms, broken windows and a sign with the name of the clinic.

Iraqi authorities have said that scores of civilians have been killed and hundreds more wounded in the daily US-British bombing of the capital over the past two weeks.

The strikes have destroyed or damaged dozens of official buildings, residential homes and telephone exchanges.

SPACE.WIRE