Saddam fails to appear in person for TV statement

The allies seized on Saddam Hussein's failure to deliver a statement on Iraqi television last night as evidence that he may be hurt or injured.

The Iraqi leader exhorted his people to launch a "jihad" or holy war against US and British "aggressors", in the address which was read out by his Information Minister.

The statement – which urged Iraqis to "strike at them, fight them" – used religious funda-mentalist language – unusual for a secular leader.

President Saddam's failure to appear in person –not unusual according to correspondents in Baghdad – was picked up for the propaganda war.

Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, said it was "interesting" that the Iraqi president had failed to "show up". He implied that all of Iraq's leaders were out of action. "Where are the leaders?" he asked. In London, Peter Hain, the Welsh Secretary, said President Saddam's absence raised questions over whether he was injured or had fled Baghdad. "It is very mysterious," he told the BBC's Newsnight.

In the statement, President Saddam called the Americans and British, "evil, accursed by God. You are the victors and they shall be vanquished".

He went on: "Fight them everywhere the way you are fighting them today. And don't give them a chance to catch their breath until they ... withdraw from the lands of the Muslims, defeated and cursed in this life and the afterlife. The aggression that the aggressors are carrying out ... is an aggression on the religion, wealth, honour and the soul ... on the land of Islam. Therefore, jihad is a duty ... those who are martyred will be rewarded in heaven."