Iraq announced today more than 350 Iraqi civilians had been killed since the United States and Britain invaded one week ago.
It said women, children and elderly people comprised most of the victims.
Iraq's Health Minister, Mr Umeed Midhat Mubarak, accused US and British forces of using cluster bombs and other weapons to frighten civilians and maximise damage.
"Most of these martyrs and victims are children, women andelderly people who cannot afford to protect themselves," Mr Mubarak said, speaking in English at a Baghdad news conference.
"So you see that those aggressors, the Americans and theEnglish and their allies, are targeting civilians in Iraq,regardless of their age".
He added that in all more than 4,000 civilians had beenkilled and injured in the war, which Washington and Londonbegan on March 20th to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Mr Mubarak said that in Baghdad alone, 36 people had been killed over the last 24 hours by air strikes.
Yesterday, two explosions devastated a busy Baghdadresidential street, killing as many as 15 people. Iraqiwitnesses blamed the blasts on a twin US missile attack.
In Washington, US defence officials said an errant missilemay have been responsible for the blasts, but added that it was also possible that a misfired Iraqi anti-aircraft missile or anti-aircraft artillery could be to blame.
They said the US military had reviewed its targets in theBaghdad area for Wednesday and concluded that it had not dropped any weapons close to the Baghdad street that was hit.
Mr Mubarak repeated Iraqi accusations that US-led forces were using cluster bombs and depleted uranium weapons in the war. "The aggressors think that the people of Iraq will be easily frightened. They forget the Iraqi spirit," he said.
A British air force spokesman denied that cluster bombs were being used in the air campaign.