The president's call was read on state television on night 13 of the war to topple him from power, appealing to international fury over the latest killings of women and children.

But US President George W. Bush blamed Saddam for civilian deaths, as US and British forces continued both the air blitz and a grinding, bitterly fought ground campaign pushing northward toward a showdown in Baghdad.

In a speech read by Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf, Saddam said jihad or holy war was a "duty" for Arabs and Muslims and called the US-led war an attack on "religion, property, people and honour."

"Fight them in every location as you are doing today, and don't give them a chance to catch their breath until they pull out of Muslim land," the speech said. "Hit them, fight them! They are evil aggressors."

US commanders say they do not know if Saddam, who has almost always steered clear of live television during his 24-year rule, remains alive after the thousands of air strikes which have pounded Iraq since March 20.

In similar statements, the White House and Downing Street said Saddam's non-appearance on televison raised "questions" about his fate.

Iraqi officials have scorned the suggestion, while state television regularly shows him meeting with his inner circle. It is not known if the footage was pre-recorded.

His latest rally cry came after at least 48 more civilians, many women and children, were reported dead in the round-the-clock aerial assault that has been pummelling Baghdad and surrounding areas.

In the farming town of Hilla south of the capital, the head of the local hospital said 33 people were killed and more than 300 wounded in a bombing raid Tuesday.

A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross described the "horror" at the hospital and said: "There were dozens of smashed corpses."

An AFP reporter saw what appeared to be the mini-weapons from cluster bombs, equipped with small parachutes, covering a large area in the town, which lies 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Baghdad.

Another AFP reporter with US ground troops assaulting the area said the attack had been backed up by air raids from B-52 bombers.

Elsewhere, Razek al-Kazem al-Khafaji sat inconsolably among 15 coffins, bearing what he said were the bodies of his family killed Monday night by a US rocket fired from a helicopter on their pickup truck.

He told AFP they were fleeing fierce fighting in Nasiriyah, further south, when they were hit. He said the strike killed his wife, six children, his father, his mother, his three brothers and their wives.

US Central Command said it was investigating the report but "has not turned up any evidence of this alleged incident."

On Monday, seven people, all women and children, were shot dead when they failed to stop their mini-bus for a checkpoint near the holy city of Najaf in the south.

"I'd like to express our regrets to the families of the Iraqis killed yesterday at the checkpoint near Al-Najaf," said General Richard Myers, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff.

"The climate established by the Iraqi regime contributed to this incident," he said.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said: "Most innocents have been lost in this war at the hands of Saddam Hussein and his henchmen. That's who is to blame for the loss of innocent lives."

The images of carnage played over and over on Arab television stations, and press reports in the United States about internal dissent over how to prosecute the war, have proved a public relations headache for Washington.

The Najaf shooting came after a suicide bomber killed four US troops in the same area on Saturday.

Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said more than 3,000 Arab volunteers were waiting in Baghdad ready to "martyr" themselves against ground forces.

US officers said Iraq brought down from north of Baghdad reinforcements for its elite Republican Guard divisions guarding the southern approaches of the city, which have also been hammered in the coalition air strikes.

US commanders have said their troops were as close as 95 kilometersmiles) from the capital. Some have signaled a major tank battle could be shaping up in the next week.

Meanwhile air strikes kept pounding the capital, with a series of loud blasts heard on Baghdad's outskirts late Tuesday.

Saddam's biggest palace in the capital took a fresh hit Tuesday, while heavy bombing boomed throughout the day from the city's southern rim -- beyond which the Republican Guard divisions are dug in and waiting.

SPACE.WIRE