DUBAI, May 12: Ousted president Saddam Hussein and his sons Uday and Qusay are still alive and in Iraq, Ahmed Chalabi, head of the US-backed opposition group, the Iraqi National Congress, said Monday.

“Our people say he’s still in Iraq and hasn’t left,” Chalabi told the London-based Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat, adding that he only moved with a “special escort”.

“His sons are also in Iraq but they are not always together.”

Earlier this month, the Sydney Morning Herald carried the transcript of a purported voice recording of the ousted strongman, but the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Richard Myers, said Sunday that “we don’t know if that was really Saddam Hussein or not.”

Mr Chalabi told Asharq al-Awsat that former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, the most prominent official in coalition custody to date, had been “arrested by the Americans ... thanks to information we provided them on where he was.” —AFP