NEWS ARTICLE APRIL 4, 2003
Earlier, Iraq threatened a "non-conventional" act today against US-led forces who have seized Baghdad airport, hinting at suicide attacks while ruling out use of weapons of mass destruction.
"We will commit a non-conventional act on them, not necessarily military," Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf told a news conference.
"We will do something that will be a great example for these mercenaries."
Asked if Baghdad planned to use weapons of mass destruction, he said: "No, not at all. But we will conduct a kind of martyrdom operation."
Iraqi officials often use the word "martyrdom" in describing suicide attacks.
Washington and London launched a war on Iraq on March 20 to rid Iraq of alleged chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. Such arms are sometimes termed "non-conventional".
President Saddam Hussein has repeatedly denied possessing such weapons.
Asked about the threat of a "non-conventional" act, a spokesman at US war headquarters in Qatar said: "We have nothing to say about it. We're on alert, as we always are on alert. We're at war."
Mr Sahaf, looking confident and repeatedly insulting the United States, says the attack on Baghdad airport was an "airborne landing....They are completely besieged," he said.
Reuters correspondents travelling with the US troops say the attack came after an overland sweep from Kuwait.
Mr Sahaf says US forces are on an "isolated island" at the airport.
"It is difficult for the U.S. forces that are surrounded in Saddam airport to come out alive," he said.
"They talk about postwar Iraq. What's post war is that Iraq will remain Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein," he said
