Kuwait City came under an Iraqi missile attack early today, causing damage to a closed shopping mall, CNN reported.

The report said that there were no immediate sign of dead or injured, adding that "t hings have been strewn literally all over the place".

The attack, first to hit the city since the US-led war against Iraq began nine days ago, occurred shortly after 1.30am Kuwaiti time (6.30 am Malaysian time).

Previously about a dozen missiles have been launched from Iraq towards Kuwait, but most have been knocked out of the sky by Patriot missiles while two landed in rural areas without causing any injuries.

No warning signals

Meanwhile the Associated Press reported that the missile fell into the sea and exploded near the major shopping mall.

The new agency quoted officials confirming that the missile did not cause any injuries. The shopping mall was also reported to have suffered o­nly a little damage.

The report added that Kuwaiti police official, Brig Ahmed al-Rujaid, appearing o­n national television , said that the missile landed close to the Souq Sharq mall, a multi-level shopping center that's o­ne of Kuwait's largest.

AP also reported that a senior Pentagon official said the initial reports indicated that US anti-missile defenses picked up no sign of a missile engine plume, suggesting that what hit Kuwait City was not a long-range ballistic missile. The official stressed, however, that the situation was not clear.

This missile attack followed a US military announcement yesterday that they had struck three Iraqi Al Samoud ballistic missile launchers in Basra, just north of the Kuwait border.

Republican Guard repositioning

Meanwhile, CNN also reported that heavy airstrikes are being mounted across the country against positions held by the Republican Guard, with the primary intention to further reduce Iraq's military capability in advance of a US assault o­n Baghdad.

US officials are quoted as saying that Iraq's Medina division south of Baghdad was now at 65 percent of its original capacity, but officials are concerned of an unknown number of special Republican Guard elements that may still be in Baghdad.

US officials said that in response, two other units of Iraq's elite Republican Guard were repositioning. The Hammurabi division, which was west of Baghdad, was moving south in hopes of reinforcing the Medina. Another division -- which was around Tikrit in the north -- was moving in to replace the Hammurabi.

And in Baghdad o­n Friday, air raid sirens and explosions were heard as the Iraqi capital was struck by some of the largest explosions yet in the war, resulting in at least 52 deaths and more than 50 others wounded.

Syrian warning

In Washington, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld issued a stern warning to Syria and Iran, both neighbours of Iraq, saying they would be held responsible for any forces that assist the regime of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein or any military supplies brought into Iraq.

At news brief late Friday, Rumsfeld claimed military equipment had crossed into Iraq from Syria and Iran-based rebels.

"These deliveries pose a direct threat to the lives of coalition forces," he said, adding that such activities constitute a "hostile act".

However Syria responded angrily to these accusations, with President Bashar Al Assad hoping that Washington would fail to oust Saddam.

In an interview published in Lebanese daily As-Safir , Assad also predicted that, if the US and Britain were to take over Iraq, they would be confronted by a "popular resistance" that would prevent them from controlling the country.

In other developments, CNN reported that Saddam urged his people to seize coalition vehicles, saying "the government will pay for the prize to the citizen". US marines are also reported of finally making major inroads in the southeastern Iraqi city of Nasiriya, but four marines with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force are reported missing following intense combat in the city.