Iraqis counter Saddam health rumours

President Saddam Hussein of Iraq has delivered a speech on television in what's believed to be an attempt to counter recent reports that the sixty-three-year-old leader is unwell.

He looked robust and healthy in the pre-recorded broadcast, in which he praised the Iraqi military and repeated an offer to send millions of volunteers to help the Palestinians fight Israel.

The Baghdad government has strongly denied opposition reports that Saddam Hussein last week suffered a stroke.

The opposition in exile insists that he is a sick man, and that recent broadcasts of him have been faked to fool the public. The BBC Middle East correspondent says the Iraqi government is clearly keen to dispel any fears over the country's future leadership.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service