Iraq 'may use suicide'

Saddam Hussein's regime threatened to use "non-conventional operations tonight" in a last-ditch stand against the Allies.

Iraq's information minister made the threat today at a dramatic press conference in the centre of Baghdad.

His words were at first taken as a direct hint that chemical or biological weapons could be unleashed on allied forces at Baghdad airport.

But Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf later denied plans to use weapons of mass destruction. Instead, he said, Iraq will conduct "martyrdom operations" - indicating suicide bomb attacks.

His warning came a few hours after American soldiers found thousands of boxes of white powder, nerve agent antidote and documents on how to use chemical weapons at a suspected chemical warfare training site near Baghdad, a US officer said.

Pentagon sources suggested the powder may have been conventional explosives. But the discovery raised the fear that Saddam Hussein may have stored chemical weapons inside Baghdad ready for use as a last-ditch defence against advancing US forces.

The information minister said: "Tonight we will do unconventional operations. [This is] nothing to do with the military. No chance for them to survive unless they surrender. It will be hard for the American forces to leave Baghdad airport alive. I send my condolences for now and I'll tell them exactly how many will be killed later."

He also threatened guerrilla war that would kill hundreds of US troops in the centre of Bagdad.

There is speculation that the threat could involve some form of mass attack by militia forces in a desperate bluff by the regime.