U.S. and British forces unleashed a mighty air assault on Baghdad on Friday night setting the night alight and sending clouds of debris into the sky.

Officials in Washington had said the ferocity of their "shock and awe" campaign -- intended to stun Iraqi troops -- would depend on the success of ongoing back-channel surrender talks with senior Iraqi officials.

British RAF Harriers and Tornado airplanes were used to attack radar installations, as well as anti-aircraft batteries and Scud missile emplacements.

"The regime is starting to lose control of the country," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said at a Washington press conference.

Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "several hundred military targets will be hit over the coming hours."

NBC News, at 3 p.m. ET, reported that a "senior Iraqi official" was in communication with an unnamed third country about possible surrender.

At the same time as explosions rocked Baghdad, Al-Jazeera reported large booms and flashes of light in three directions from Mosul, though no direct hits in the northern city itself. Explosions came from the direction of Dohuk in the north, Kirkuk and the Mosul-Syrian border highways.

A series of very bright flashes could be seen 30 miles east of Mosul on the banks of the Great Zab river, which marks the boundary between the Kurdish self-rule area and territory controlled by the Iraqi government.

Smaller, more distant flashes could be seen in the next hour as the bomardment continued. Red tracers of anti-aircraft fire shot through the sky and then the firing subsided.

The U.S.-led aerial attack on Baghdad was heralded by the sound of air raid sirens and explosions, followed quickly by major detonations in the city.

Many buildings were ablaze in the heart of the city, with towering red, pink and brown clouds rising high into the night sky.

In response, the Iraqis opened up with anti-aircraft bursts which winked in the darkness.

The spectacular blasts lit up the night sky, illuminating the city even as they decimated portions of it. Clouds of smoke extended high above Baghdad as fires burned; at one point, the sound of a missile roared through the street before exploding into a fireball.

Three major fires raged on Saddam Hussein's sprawling Old Palace compound on the west side of the Tigris River, officially the heart of the Iraqi state that includes the offices of the prime minister's staff and the Cabinet. The turqoised-domed main building appeared to be untouched.

However, a building next to the palace was on fire and black smoke billowed from a 10-story building in another part of the compound.

White flashes could be seen in the areas west of the palace in Baghdad. The area includes many government buildings, including the main intelligence center and headquarters of the ruling Baath Party.

"Baghdad is burning," said a correspondent for the Al-Jazeera television network. "What more can we say."

The lights in the city dimmed but came back on once the bombing started. Red tracer fire shot across the night sky as the U.S. plan to "shock and awe" Iraqi troops began.

More than a half-hour after the attack began, Iraqi radio and television were still broadcasting and the power stayed on.

Anti-aircraft fire was also reported by witnesses over the northern oil city of Kirkuk at about the same time as the attack on the capital was under way.

The U.S. Navy launched about 320 Tomahawk cruise missiles on Iraq from ships in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, senior officers said Friday.