Iraqi TV Airs Pictures of Saddam Chairing Meeting

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, April 06, 2003

Iraqi TV Airs Pictures of Saddam Chairing Meeting

Iraqi TV late Saturday night aired pictures of President Saddam Hussein chairing a meeting attended by his two sons and senior military officers.

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Iraqi TV late Saturday night aired pictures of President Saddam Hussein chairing a meeting attended by his two sons and senior military officers.

A smiling Saddam, wearing military fatigues, sat in a room with his two sons Qusay and Uday near him.

The Iraqi TV did not say when or where the meeting had been held.

On Friday, Iraqi TV also showed footage of Saddam visiting some residential sites hit by US bombs and missiles in the capital.

The fresh appearances of Saddam on TV were seen as morale boosters to the Iraqi people when the US forces are focusing on the battle for Baghdad.

On Saturday night, the US-led coalition warplanes bombarded targets in central Baghdad Saturday night with several large explosions heard.

The bombarded area is only several hundred meters away from the Palestine Hotel, where dozens of foreign journalists are staying and Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf frequently gives press conference.

The latest air raids came amid contrasting reports by the United States and Iraq about the military actions in and around Baghdad.

The US military said that a US contingent of troops supported by tanks and armored vehicles rolled into downtown Baghdad on Saturday for the first time, and US forces seized the headquarters of the Medina Division of Iraq's Republican Guard.

Brief incursions into downtown Baghdad began early in the morning, said a commander of the First Brigade of the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division.

Elements of the division's Second Brigade came under Iraqi fire and grenade attacks as they tried to take a grip on President Saddam Hussein's seat of power, the commander said. There were no immediate reports of casualties to US forces from the incursion.

However, Iraqi Information Minister Sahaf late Saturday denied reports that US troops have entered Baghdad.

In an interview with Qatar-based Al Jazeera television, he said the footage aired by CNN of US forces entering a Baghdad area was not shot from any district in the city.

Rather, he said, this footage was taken from a district called "Abu Ghurrib", which is located outside the fences of Saddam International Airport.

Baghdad is safe, and security is prevailing the city, he said.

According to Sahaf, the Republican Guard is in full control of Saddam International Airport, adding that the Iraqi forces beat the coalition forces with rockets and artillery fire and fierce fighting is still going on around the airport.

At least 300 US troops have been killed in the battle at the airport, and many enemy vehicles have been destroyed, he said.

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