Iraq insists Saddam unfazed

Baghdad/London (Agencies): Iraq insisted on Sunday that President Saddam Hussein remained in control as British and U.S. forces launched new air raids on the capital and pressed their march through the south, but were forced to abandon plans to use bases in Turkey to open a northern front.

Coalition commanders said their troops were pouring across the Euphrates river after capturing the town of Nasiriyah, which controls a key bridging point a third of the way to Baghdad from the Kuwaiti border.

State television admitted a ruling Baath party official had been killed in fighting near the Shiite Muslim pilgrimage city of Najaf, just 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the capital.

But it carried pictures of a smiling Saddam in military uniform meeting a war council of top advisors, who reported Iraqi troops were fending off U.S. and British forces in the south with "resistance and heroism."

British intelligence reports suggested on Sunday that Saddam had emerged alive from the initial U.S. raid of the Iraq war but left the area in an ambulance.

Junior Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien said: "We've received information that Saddam Hussein left the area in an ambulance. There was some talk that he had been injured, even some suggestion that he had been killed."

"It seems that is unlikely, that if he was injured it doesn't appear it was a serious injury," O'Brien told BBC radio.

He said the information came from "at least one eye witness" to Thursday's strike, which came under cover of darkness.

"It appears he subsequently appeared on Iraqi TV but again there are question marks over some of those TV appearances," said O'Brien.

"In essence, we don't know for sure (his fate)," the official added.

There has been intense speculation about whether Saddam escaped the opening attack on Baghdad last Thursday, when the United States struck before dawn at what it considered to be the top echelons of the Iraqi leadership.

The commander of British forces in the Gulf said earlier on Sunday Saddam's fate was growing largely immaterial as "significant disarray" sweeps through the Iraqi leadership.

"I suspect they are in significant disarray at the moment," said Air Marshall Brian Burridge.

"Once the regime recognizes that its days are up, then they will crumble," the officer added.

Britain has committed 45,000 troops to help the United States oust Saddam and destroy his alleged programs of mass destruction. Iraq denies it has any banned weapons.

A dark cloud shrouded Baghdad on Sunday from burning fuel trenches ringing the capital where residents woke up to the sound of sporadic bombings from U.S.-led forces.

A powerful explosion reverberated around the city followed by antiaircraft fire and more blasts after air raid warning sirens sounded.

The first dull thump which occurred just after 9 a.m. (1 p.m. Jakarta time) followed a night of violent bombardment that briefly cut power to the southern suburbs where antiaircraft gunners opened up as morning prayers were head from mosques.

A smell of smoke floated through the city where the sun was eclipsed by the cloud that has engulfed the capital since Saturday afternoon when the Iraqis lit fuel trenches all around Baghdad.

Fire continued to be seen on the surface of the trenches during the night, sending plumes of thick smoke billowing into the otherwise clear sky.

Officials did not confirm if the clouds of smoke were intended to blur visibility and deter air attacks.

Traffic was relatively normal in the center of Baghdad, although only bakeries, pharmacies and groceries were open to customers.