April 2, 2003	Wednesday	Muharram 29, 1424

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BAGHDAD, April 1: President Saddam Hussein called on Muslims around the world on Tuesday to wage holy war against the United States and Britain, after dozens more Iraqi civilians were reported killed by coalition air attacks.

The president issued the call on state television on night 13 of the war to topple him from power, appealing to international fury over the latest killings of women and children.

But US President George W. Bush blamed Saddam for civilian deaths, as US and British forces continued both the air blitz and a grinding, bitterly fought ground campaign pushing northward toward a showdown in Baghdad.

In a speech read by Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf, Saddam said jihad or holy war was a “duty” for Arabs and Muslims and called the US-led war an attack on “religion, property, people and honour.”

“Fight them in every location as you are doing today, and don’t give them a chance to catch their breath until they pull out of Muslim land,” the speech said. “Hit them, fight them! They are evil aggressors.”

US commanders say they do not know if Saddam, who has almost always steered clear of live television during his 24-year rule, remains alive after the thousands of air strikes which have pounded Iraq since March 20.

Iraqi officials have scorned the suggestion, while state television regularly shows him meeting with his inner circle. It is not known if the footage was pre-recorded.

His latest call came after at least 48 more civilians, many women and children, were reported dead in the round-the-clock aerial assault that has been pummelling Baghdad and surrounding areas.

Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said more than 3,000 Arab volunteers were waiting in Baghdad ready to “martyr” themselves against ground forces.

US officers said Iraq brought down from north of Baghdad reinforcements for its elite Republican Guard divisions guarding the southern approaches of the city, which have also been hammered in the coalition air strikes.

US commanders have said their troops were as close as 95 kilometers from the capital. Some have signalled a major tank battle could be shaping up in the next week.

Meanwhile air strikes kept pounding the capital, where residents were bracing for another night of coalition bombing. AFP reporters in Baghdad say the raids have been increasing in intensity in recent nights.

Saddam’s biggest palace in the capital took a fresh hit on Tuesday, while heavy bombing boomed throughout the day from the city’s southern rim — beyond which the Republican Guard divisions are dug in and waiting.

IRAQ CLAIMS: Iraq said on Tuesday its forces killed 23 US or British troops in an attack on a coalition position in the south of the country a day earlier.

The “enemy soldiers” died and three tanks were destroyed in an attack on Monday by the Saddam Fedayeen paramilitary force in Zhi Qar province, 300 kilometers south of Baghdad, a military spokesman said.

The spokesman said several US or British tanks or helicopters, including an Apache, were destroyed in separate violence in the past 24 hours.

He also said two Arab volunteers for the Saddam Fedayeen were killed in action on Monday.

Iraq said on Monday it had killed 54 US or British soldiers around the southern city of Basra, which has been besieged for a week by British forces.

TAREQ AZIZ: Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said on Tuesday he was confident of victory over US-led troops, saying Iraq would triumph not through desert battles but by frustrating Washington’s war aims.

“We are confident of victory. Victory how? Victory is defeating aggression by preventing it from achieving its goals. This is victory,” he said in an interview with the Arab satellite channel LBC.—AFP