February 2, 2003	Sunday	Ziqa’ad 29, 1423

BAGHDAD, Feb 1: A defiant Iraq threatened to unleash suicide attacks against US nationals in the Middle East and to wipe out any invading force should the Washington wage a new war against it.

The warnings by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan were made public Saturday — the day after US President George W. Bush met his close ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and declared that conflict could be “weeks, not months” away.

Suicide attacks “are our new weapons,” Ramadan told Monday’s edition of the German news magazine Der Spiegel, adding: “The whole region will be set ablaze. This part of the world will become a sea of resistance and danger for Americans.”

Neighbouring countries hosting US troops would be especially singled out, “meaning in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait,” Ramadan said.

On Friday, Bush said he would welcome a new UN resolution authorising force.—AFP