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."

Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke suggested on Monday that Saddam's family might be escaping Iraq.

"We've seen evidence that family members are fleeing the country," she said.

"Since the coalition bombed Saddam's headquarters at the very beginning of the war, the world has neither seen his hide nor hair, only tapes. We've not seen his sons," she added.

Some Western newspapers have said Saddam has cashed in assets to bankroll exile for his family. Foreign media have also reported rumours that the elder of his two wives, Sajida, and his daughters had fled Iraq for neighbouring Syria.

Saddam ignored US demands to step down and go into exile to avert the war to oust him.