Saddam said to be filmed on April 9

ABU DHABI TV yesterday screened pictures that appeared to show Saddam Hussein in the streets of Baghdad, being mobbed

The station said it was filmed on April 9, just over a week ago, as American forces moved into the Iraqi capital.

If so, it was shot on the same day a crowd of cheering Iraqis, with the help of US marines, toppled a 40ft statue of Saddam in a main city square. Pentagon officials said they had been unaware of the tape and had not had a chance to evaluate it.

Clad in a beret and olive military uniform, the Iraqi dictator was shown moving through the crowd in the Azamiyah neighbourhood of Baghdad as people cheered: “With our bloods and souls we redeem you, Oh Saddam.”

Helped by his guards, he climbed onto the bonnet of a car and appeared embarrassed as he took in the applause. Some of those cheering were waving AK-47 assault rifles in the air.

Alongside him stood a man who resembled his younger son, Qusai.

Though there was nothing to indicate definitively when the footage was taken, haze was visible in the background that could have been dust or smoke from US bombing.

Abu Dhabi TV correspondent Jaber Obeid said the person who handed the tape to the network assured them it was shot in Baghdad on April 9.

The man shown in the new footage resembled him but appeared smaller and slighter than the Iraqi president and showed a visible belly paunch.

US-led forces are still searching for Saddam in Baghdad and his hometown Tikrit. If authentic, the footage would mean an American air strike on three houses on April 7 aimed at killing him had failed.