An audiotape purportedly from former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein aired on al Arabiya television said his two sons Uday and Qusay had died as martyrs for Iraq. ?If Saddam Hussein had 100 sons, he would have offered them on the same path which is the path of jihad,? the tape said.

?I mourn to you the deaths of Uday and Qusay and those who struggled with them. You are the honour of this nation,? it said. ?America will be defeated.? A Reuters correspondent familiar with Saddam?s voice said the tape sounded like Saddam, whose whereabouts have been unknown since US-led forces toppled him in April.

The CIA has said that at least one of the previous tapes purporting to be from Saddam is likely to have been genuine. Saddam?s feared sons Uday and Qusay were killed by US forces in a fierce gunbattle last Tuesday in the northern city of Mosul along with a 14-year-old boy thought to be Qusay?s son and one other person. ?They all died martyrs in the name of jihad,? the voice said, adding that every fighter for jihad, which means holy war, would desire to die in the same way as his sons.

?God is great,? was repeated several times in the tape purporting to be from the deposed president who came to power at the head of the strongly secular Baath party. ?Glory to the martyrs of the nation. Long live our nation, long live Iraq. Long live Palestine and let the Zionists be defeated,? he said. US officials have said they are closing in on Saddam after killing his sons and they believe the removal of his feared lieutenants should help end guerrilla attacks on US-led forces.

The voice on the tape said US President George W. Bush and his ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, should not think they had dealt him a personal blow in killing Uday, Qusay and Qusay?s son Mustafa. ?If you think you have killed Uday and Qusay and Mustafa we tell you that these are the youth of our nation who died in the name of jihad,? he said. ?Let the two liars and their aides and their sons be also defeated,? the voice said. Saddam has often used the phrase ?the two liars? to refer to Bush and Blair. At the end of the tape the voice signed off with the words July 2003.

Samia Nakhoul