WASHINGTON, April 4: US intelligence believes that a speech by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein broadcast over Iraqi television on Friday, while not conclusive, indicates that he survived a March 20 air strike, a US official said.

Saddam Hussein’s reference in the speech to the downing of an Apache helicopter appeared to be of a March 24 incident, the official said.

“What aired today is not conclusive” but suggests that it was done after the air strikes, because of the reference to a helicopter being down, the official said.

Saddam’s fate has been a subject of intense speculation since the United States opened its war against Iraq on March 19 with a “decapitation” strike on a compound in Baghdad where the Iraqi leader was believed to be gathered with other seniors members of the regime.

US officials have said that all Saddam’s previous appearances on Iraqi television were videotapes that could have been made before the war.

But this was the first time one of his speeches contained an apparent reference to a specific event that occurred after the start of the war.

Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf announced on March 24 that Iraqi farmers had shot down two Apaches. US defence officials confirmed that an Apache Longbow was downed in Iraq but had no comment on claims that a second helicopter was shot down.—AFP/Reuters