Saddam issued the order as the US-British forces unleashed an all-out ground offensive against Iraq and a new wave of devastating air raids on the Iraqi capital and other cities.

It remained unclear the whereabouts of the Iraqi president since the United States and Britain initiated the war early Thursday under the name of disarm Saddam of weapons of mass destruction.

Iraqi officials were quoted by the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV as saying Friday that Iraqi forces had already captured many US, British and Australian soldiers in the southern town of Fao, where heavy fighting was reported overnight.

The Iraqi officials declined to say the exact number of such captives taken, but adding they would be put on show after arrangement was made.

US-British troops escalated their operations inside Iraq overnight with ground forces rapidly advancing to Baghdad from the south after crossing the Kuwait-Iraq border.

The coalition forces reportedly captured the port of Umm Qasr as well as two airports in the west.

The Pentagon stated Friday that the commander of Iraq's regular 51st Division surrendered Friday to US Marines advancing towards Baghdad in southern Iraq.

Countering the US-British claims, Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed insisted Friday evening that Iraqi forces were still holding their positions in Al Fao and Umm Qasr, Iraq's only deep-water port in the south.

"Until this moment, our 45th Brigade in Umm Qasr is standing in its positions, and the enemy has not been able to dislodge them," he said.

Ahmed noted that Americans were lying when they say that only two soldiers were killed in the battle, because the fact was that their losses were much more greater.

Late Friday, the Iraqi capital of Baghdad came under the most devastating wave of bombings since the war started early Thursday.

Cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs rained down on the city of 5 million people, as deafening explosions were heard around the city where the night sky was lit up by giant fire balls and anti-aircraft fire.

Two presidential palaces, the buildings of the Military Industrialization Commission headquarters, which was in charge of weapons development, and the military intelligence headquarters were hit in the raids.

Loud explosions were also heard in the northern cities of Mosul and the oil hub Kirkuk, where anti-aircraft fire and fire balls triggered by the blasts were visible from far away.

So far two US Marines have been killed by Iraqi forces in the fighting, while eight British and four US soldiers died in a helicopter crash in Kuwait.

(Xinhua News Agency March 22, 2003)