At least 10 people have been wounded, nearly half of them seriously, in two blasts in a tent containing US Army 1st Brigade members early Sunday, CNN quoted a Time magazine reporter as saying.

According to the reporter, the military thinks it may be a terrorist attack.

Meanwhile, with little to impede their progress, United States-led coalition troops continue their march towards Baghdad. According to the Pentagon, they have crossed the Euphrates River.

But as they move closer and closer to the Iraqi capital, the allied troops may encounter stiffer resistance from the elite Republican Guards, according to military planners.

For the first time since Operation Iraqi Freedom began, the commander-in-chief of the US Central Command, General Tommy Franks, addressed a press conference in Doha on Saturday.

Gen Franks, who also heads the coalition forces, said he has no idea where President Saddam Hussein is, or whether he is still alive and in what shape. But he said Iraq's command and control "is not exactly as advertised on Baghdad TV".

He promised that the campaign would be "unlike any other in history" and said, "There may be tough time ahead."

Franks said between 1,000 and 2,000 Iraqi troops, who surrendered, have been taken into custody, and "thousands more have laid down their weapons and have gone home".

"In the days ahead, you will see evidence of the truth of Secretary [of Defence Donald] Rumsfeld's statement yesterday, when he said Saddam Hussein was given a choice by the international community to give up his weapons of mass destruction or lose power.

"He chose unwisely and now he will lose both," he said.

The general's statement, for the moment, seems to be true, as coalition forces make strategic acquisitions and consolidate their gains in the south of the country.

Before crossing the Euphrates, they captured Nasiriya.

The ground troops have also reached Basra, Iraq's second city -- the first being the capital itself. BBC said the troops have captured an airport and some bridges near Basra. A British spokesman has been quoted as saying that coalition forces are 10km from the city. He said they would not enter Basra as long as the Iraqi troops inside show no sign of attacking them.

Baghdad has also come under fresh air attack, though not as intense as in Friday's ‘shock and awe' campaign.

Jets have bombed an AM radio station in central Iraq and a presidential palace compound in western Baghdad, CNN said. Power supplies have been knocked off and the city has plunged into darkness.

Smoke could be seen rising into the sky over Baghdad at around 0730 hrs [1130 EST, 2200 IST], followed by anti-aircraft fire, the channel said.

So far, the coalition has lost 21 men -- 14 Britons and seven Americans.

Four more US soldiers have died in central Iraq, according to Britain's Sky TV.

Three members of an ITV News crew are missing after coming under fire on their way to Basra, according to BBC.

Efforts to find British TV reporter Terry Lloyd, cameraman Fred Nerac and local translator Hussein Othman are underway, it said.

An Australian journalist and three Kurdish fighters have died in a car bomb blast at a checkpoint in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, according to reports.

Other developments

• Aircraft bomb the northern town of Kirkuk
• Turkey denies sending troops into northern Iraq
• CNN quotes Kurdish forces as saying that over the next seven days, thousands of US troops are expected to fly into northern Iraq from Jordan, bypassing Turkish airspace.
• Pentagon says that a missile may have missed its target and landed in Iranian territory. According to Iranian official news agency, the US and its allies continue to violate Iranian airspace.
• 450,000 people flee from northern Iraq: United Nations
• Thousands hold march against war in Manhattan