Rockets hit a building housing a telecommunications center which had been repeatedly targeted during US-British bombing of the capital since the war started on March 20, they said.

Two of the US Abrams tanks engaged with Iraqi forces had moved out of the northern entrance of Saddam Hussein's main palace in the city center and rolled onto the Al-Jumhuriya (Republic) bridge.

US warplanes attacked Saddam's Republican Palace, which lies on the banks of the Tigris river, as fierce fighting raged inside the vast complex which US forces blasted their way into from the west on Monday.

A little white car drove onto the Republic bridge before swiftly reversing after a warning shot exploded from a US tank, an AFP reporter said.

After the blast right in front of the vehicle, two passengers jumped out before the driver spun round and they all sped back to the eastern bank.

SPACE.WIRE