Dead or alive? Saddam takes to streets day the world saw his fall

SADDAM Hussein may have survived the US bomb blast attack on his life and may still be alive - if television footage aired yesterday by Abu Dhabi television can be believed.

The pictures purport to show the Iraqi leader in the streets of Baghdad on April 9, the day his statue was famously toppled by angry crowds after US forces entered the Iraqi capital. He is seen being greeted by a cheering crowd. He also delivers a speech calling on them to resist US forces.

If the man in the footage is Saddam he frequently deployed doubles to take his place on public outings then it proves he was not present in a Baghdad restaurant which the US destroyed with a bomb blast on April 7. US officials claimed Saddam had been killed in that attack.