IRAQI officials claim an Allied missile has struck a market in Baghdad, killing 58 people.

As television pictures showing the aftermath of the alleged attack were flashed across Arab countries by satellite TV stations, American military sources said they were still looking at whether one of their missiles was involved.

They said they were not targeting women and children.

They confirmed they had struck a building containing about 200 supporters of Saddam Hussein in the southern city of Basra.

A missile, apparently fired from Iraq, went into the sea near Kuwait City, causing no casualties, though the explosion damaged a shopping centre.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence said a British soldier had died in fighting in southern Iraq.

The circumstances in which the serviceman, from the Blues and Royals Household Cavalry Regiment, was killed were unclear.

One report suggested it happened when an Allied A10 "tankbuster" aircraft attacked two Allied armoured vehicles, but military sources pointed out that Iraqi forces, as well and British and American units, were firing in the area at the time.

Ten coffins containing the bodies of British servicemen killed in the conflict were being flown to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire today.

Seven Italian journalists have gone missing while travelling in Iraq.

American Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has claimed that military equipment is being moved from Syria to help Iraq's fight against the Allied forces.

An anti-war march is to take place in York today, starting from Museum Gardens at 12 noon.

Updated: 09:09 Saturday, March 29, 2003