THE US may have to release graphic photos of the bullet-ridden corpses of Saddam Hussein’s sons to convince sceptical Iraqis that they are dead, Bush administration officials said last night.

Turkey’s foreign minister said today that his country would allow the United States to use military bases in the country for a strike against Iraq, but only if the United Nations approved such military action.

Talk of surrender by trapped al-Qaida fighters vanished in a hail of bombs, artillery and gunfire today following claims that key terrorist leaders have fled Osama bin Laden’s besieged mountain base for neighbouring Pakistan.