Arabic-language television stations said Friday that more than 50 Iraqis have been killed in an air raid on a marketplace in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Al-Jazeera's correspondent said 51 Iraqis had been killed and 49 injured in the market in the Shula neighbourhood of Baghdad. "An Iraqi official told us that the search is still going on for those trapped under the rubble," he said and showed pictures of bodies, including those of two children.

Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television reported 52 dead and showed pictures of injured at a hospital. Witnesses spoke of a missile landing on the al-Nasser market in the west of the Iraqi capital.

Iraqi officials said the carnage was caused by a stray cruise missile. An Iraqi doctor, Ismail Marzooki, said a missile hit a residential area just 300 meters from his hospital.

He told television stations: "In a few minutes a massive number of people started to come into the hospital." Dr Marzooki described the scene as being like a "massacre".

He said there were no potential military targets in the residential area.

Other Key Developments in the Invasion of Iraq by Anglo-American Forces

* - Marines battled pockets of Iraqi resistance in Nasiriyah; four Marines with the 1st Expeditionary Force were reported missing. Explosions from tank fire, artillery and rockets fired by Cobra helicopters reverberated through the city of 500,000 as Marines battled to clear the main supply route north to Baghdad.

* _At least 12 Marines deployed to the war in Iraq have been reported missing during several days of fighting near the southern Iraq town of Nasiriyah.

* _U.S. and British troop casualties from the war. U.S. totals (which include only those identified by military or confirmed by family members): 28 dead, seven captured, 16 missing. British total: 22 dead.

* _ Two Army helicopters, returning from an attack mission south of Baghdad, crashed while landing at a base the 101st Airborne Division has set up in a remote part of the southern Iraqi desert. Both aircraft were heavily damaged.

* _ President Bush said fierce Iraqi resistance "will demand further courage and further sacrifice" from U.S. troops as they advance on Baghdad. He told a gathering of veterans that victory is certain for a U.S.-led coalition.

* _ A missile fell into the sea and exploded near a major shopping mall in Kuwait City early Saturday, but officials said it caused no injuries and little damage. U.S. officials said it appeared to be a Silkworm cruise missile launched from southern Iraq.

* _ Iraqi Kurds are preparing camps to hold as many as 500,000 people fleeing Saddam Hussein's territory, but face severe shortages of tents and other equipment, officials said.

* _ The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to resume a massive U.N. humanitarian program for Iraq once the U.S.-led war subsides.

* _ Tons of food and water reached the Iraq port city of Umm Qasr escorted by attack helicopters and a minesweeping ship.

PHOTO CAPTION

Members of Iraq's ruling Baath party march during an anti-US protest following the Friday noon prayer outside the Abdul Kader al-Gilani mosque in Baghdad. (AFP/Ramzi Haidar)