Saddam's aides deny reports his family fled

SADDAM Hussein's aides yesterday rubbished US reports that some of the president's family had fled abroad and said the fate of Saddam and his relatives remained tied to that of the Iraqi people.

"The rumour that the family of President Saddam Hussein has left Iraq is a repeat of a lie that was previously voiced by the Pentagon. The immediate family of leader Saddam Hussein is part and parcel of the great and larger Iraqi family," said a presidential statement read out on Iraqi state television.

"President Saddam Hussein has linked his fate and the fate of his immediate family to the honourable values of the Iraqi people and the fate of Saddam Hussein's immediate family will be similar to the fate of the bigger family of Iraq."