He told a press conference in Baghdad that more than 6,000 volunteers had reached Iraq from around the Arab world.

"More than half of them, martyrs, are ticking bombs and you will hear talk about them in the days to come," said Ramadan. "This is what we ask of the Arab populations."

Ramadan also warned that the worst was yet to come on the battlefield for the US-led coalition.

"We tell them that the combatants you have yet to encounter, including those belonging to the Republican Guard, possess modern and diverse equipment, within the required norms," the vice president.

He stressed that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction but said the invading coalition forces could plant such illegal arms on Iraqi territory to try to corroborate their allegations against Baghdad that fuelled the war.

While calling for Arab support, the vice president took swipes at both Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and neighbouring Kuwait, from which US and British forces launched their invasion on March 20.

"I say to this (US) agent: We would have preferred you didn't carry an Arab name and didn't have Arab blood," he said, in an angry tirade against Prince Saud for appearing to suggest Iraqi President Saddam Hussein step down.

"Nobody in the Arab world is unaware of who he is and who he works for," said Ramadan, referring to the United States. "Those who will step down and be swept away from Arab lands are you and your like."

The Saudi foreign minister, meanwhile, said Tuesday he had not called on Saddam to quit, but only advised him to make a "sacrifice" if that was the only way of ending the ongoing conflict.

Ramadan called for Kuwait's ouster from pan-Arab organisations and the expulsion of Kuwaiti diplomats from Arab states.

"Kuwait is a country which is participating ... in the aggression ... Kuwait should be expelled from all Arab organisations. It's a cancer in the Arab body," he said.

Ramadan also called for Arabs to "rise up" against US and British institutions on their territory, as well as "regimes plotting with the aggressors putting their skies, land and territorial waters at their service".

SPACE.WIRE