Aziz: Saddam survived US strikes

Former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz has told interrogators that Saddam Hussein survived the two attempted decapitation strikes against him, it was reported today.

He claims to have seen the toppled dictator and his two sons alive after the March 19 and April 7 attacks by coalition forces, a senior US defence official told USA Today.

But the official warned that Aziz may be lying to CIA agents.

General Tommy Franks, the commander of US forces in Iraq, said that Aziz is being “cooperative and talkative“.

“What we don’t know is the veracity of it. It will take time,” he said.

Bush administration officials said they have received assurances from Damascus that Saddam has not entered Syria.

US intelligence also suggests the deposed leader has not crossed any borders and that, if alive, he remains in Iraq.

An US search team has been digging for more than a week at a southern Baghdad bunker that was destroyed in the surprise attack on Saddam and his senior officials that launched the war on March 19.

A secret military and intelligence recovery unit has also begun to sift through the rubble of the April 7 strike to hunt for the body of the ousted dictator and his sons.

Meanwhile, Iraqi opposition leader Ahmed Chalabi said he believes Saddam is on the run inside Iraq armed with a suicide vest which he plans to detonate if US forces capture him.

The head of the Iraqi intelligence service, the Mukhabarat gave the bomb-lined vest to Saddam on April 1, the Iraqi National Congress leader told CNN.

“He has the ability to commit suicide or blow people up with him when they come to catch him.”