In his address, Saddam, dressed in uniform, called on the Iraqi people to hit hard and resist the US-led coalition forces.

"Most of the time, the invasion army could be resisted and destroyed," he said.

Referring to the shooting down of a US Apache helicopter gunships by an Iraqi farmer, the Iraqi president praised the braveness of the Iraqi people.

"You are the people of the glorious Baghdad...you are the people of blade and symbol of victory," he said.

Earlier in the day, a US Central Command spokesman said at a daily briefing in Doha that US forces have taken control of Saddam International airport, which is 20 km southwest of the center of Baghdad, and renamed it as Baghdad International Airport.

Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said that coalition forces are positioning around Baghdad to prevent members of the regime under President Saddam from leaving the capital city.

Meanwhile, reports from Baghdad said terrified Iraqi people were fleeing into the city after US forces seized the airport.

However, at a daily news conference in Baghdad, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahaf said that US forces were isolated in the airport and Iraqi forces will carry out "unconventional action" against them Friday night.

He vowed that the coalition forces would never leave the airport alive.

When asked about what it means about "unconventional action," the minister said "We will carry out something not military," but a "kind of martyrdom operations."

(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2003)