Aziz meets reporters and denies he fled

Dressed in military uniform and with a pistol strapped to his belt he said: "For me, as well as for the courageous Iraqi leadership, we were born in Iraq and we will die in Iraq either as martyrs which is a great honour or naturally.

Iraqi Kurds had reported Aziz, one of the closest aides of President Saddam Hussein, defected earlier in the day. Reports said he had either defected or been killed.

The reports affected oil prices in New York trading and also circulated in financial markets as the 0100 GMT Thursday deadline approached that President Bush set for Saddam and his sons to leave Iraq or face war.

Rumours of the imprisonment, flight or death of members of Saddam's administration are not uncommon but have rarely turned out to have any basis in fact. Aziz repeated it was impossible that Saddam would choose to go into exile as demanded by Bush.

"If Bush decides to continue his aggression, it won't be a picnic for him," he said. "It is going to be a bloody war and it will take a long time."

Iraqi Kurds had claimed Mr Aziz, Saddam Hussein's had defected and was in the region they control in northern Iraq. Ismail Sayer, an Iraqi opposition figure in the Democratic Platform of Iraq, also said in Sofia, Bulgaria, that Aziz had given himself up. Aziz meets reporters

and denies

he fled

Jim Caldwell

IRAQ won the first battle in the propaganda war last night as Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz met reporters in Baghdad, scotching reports he had defected or been shot trying to flee.

Dressed in military uniform and with a pistol strapped to his belt he said: "For me, as well as for the courageous Iraqi leadership, we were born in Iraq and we will die in Iraq either as martyrs which is a great honour or naturally.

Iraqi Kurds had reported Aziz, one of the closest aides of President Saddam Hussein, defected earlier in the day. Reports said he had either defected or been killed.

The reports affected oil prices in New York trading and also circulated in financial markets as the 0100 GMT Thursday deadline approached that President Bush set for Saddam and his sons to leave Iraq or face war.

Rumours of the imprisonment, flight or death of members of Saddam's administration are not uncommon but have rarely turned out to have any basis in fact. Aziz repeated it was impossible that Saddam would choose to go into exile as demanded by Bush.

"If Bush decides to continue his aggression, it won't be a picnic for him," he said. "It is going to be a bloody war and it will take a long time."

Iraqi Kurds had claimed Mr Aziz, Saddam Hussein's had defected and was in the region they control in northern Iraq. Ismail Sayer, an Iraqi opposition figure in the Democratic Platform of Iraq, also said in Sofia, Bulgaria, that Aziz had given himself up.