Fighter-bombers from the aircraft carrier dropped a total of 41 bombs Wednesday night and Thursday morning, said Lieutenant Brook Dewalt, the ship's spokesman.

He said the planes targeted tanks, trucks and other vehicles in Al Amarah in the country's southeast.

Also overnight, aircraft dropped four 2,000-pound (1,250 kilo) bombs on a surface-to-air missile site and ammunition storage facility near Al Qayyarah on the northern front, said Dewalt.

They also struck a radar site southwest of Saddam's hometown of Tikrit and a radar near Baghdad, he told reporters aboard the Kitty Hawk.

At the war command headquarters in Qatar, a military spokeswoman said bombers were targeting towns across northern Iraq.

"Northern Iraq is being heavily hit by air attacks and special operation forces," said Rumie Nilson-Green.

SPACE.WIRE