Saddam surfaced on Iraqi television in the early evening urging Iraqis to fight "with the power of the faith."

"Hit them with the power of faith wherever they come near you, and resist, oh brave inhabitants of Baghdad," said Saddam, who was dressed in olive green military garb and read solemnly from a prepared text.

He assured: "God willing, you will be victorious and they will be defeated."

The Iraqi leader, who last appeared on television on March 24, had raised rampant speculation about his whereabouts following a no-show at a planned address earlier this week. It was not clear if Friday's speech had been prerecorded.

The address came hours after US troops seized control of Baghdad's main airport just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the city center while further south marines took some 2,500 prisoners in a clash with elite Republican Guards.

Coalition forces triumphantly stripped the airport of Saddam's name.

But Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf issued an ominous warning that Iraq would carry out a "non-conventional" attack later against US troops he said were "isolated" at the airport.

Heavy artillery, gunfire and air raids continued to be heard at midday coming from the airport, while gunfire echoed through central Baghdad in the early evening.

The assault on the airport came following overnight coalition missile bombings on Baghdad, which was plunged into a power blackout that caused a cut in water supplies for the first time in the 16-day-old war to topple Saddam's regime.

In the early evening electricity came back on in parts of central Baghdad, where life had a semblance of normality, with cars and public buses on the streets along with armed security and police forces.

Shops on main avenues were closed, but groceries and some restaurants were open as usual with clients gathering around small radio sets to listen to the latest news on foreign radio stations.

"Nobody from my neighborhood heard about the airport because we do not have power at home, so the television and the radio do not work," said one man sipping tea in a snack bar on the corner of central Saadun street.

"I just learned about it when I came here this morning," he said.

The owner of the snack bar interrupted the conversation to add: "I will only believe it when I see it. The Americans cannot be in Baghdad after all the heroic Iraqi resistance we saw on television."

State television, the sole channel for most Iraqis, has this week come under continual missile attack but was still broadcasting Friday.

Telephones have been cut since a series of telecommunication centers were hit by US and British strikes.

A lack of generators and water has prevented the opening of many bakeries and gas stations, with just a few of them offering gas to long queues of cars.

"Without electricity, water becomes scarce and without water there's no bread, and without bread there's no food for the people," said a baker at the capital's Jabar al-Helfi patisserie, a huge queue snaking from its entrance.

The Shorja central market place was crowded Friday.

Hundreds of people filled the main avenue and side alleys where street vendors were selling small generators on the sidewalk as well as electrical wires, masking tape, disposable plastic ware and water containers.

"I used to sell furniture in this shop, but a few days ago I did a little recycling operation," said Ahmed Jassem.

"I took all the furniture out, and brought all these jerrycans, water tanks and coolers because we are in a war and this is what we need now," he said.

The last available generators are sold to foreign journalists for 750 dollars. "If you don't buy it now, that's it," shopkeeper Abu Mohammed said in fluent English.

A few yards (meters) down the road, the outdoor animal market was also very busy with housewives jostling for live chickens.

Friday is the weekly day of rest in Iraq and pious Muslims were seen converging on mosques across the capital for prayers.

"Today, I am going not just for the Friday prayers, I am going to make a wish to God to protect us against the invaders," said Hajj Ali, as he headed to the Al-Kazhem shrine.

As temperatures shot up to nearly 30 degrees Celcius (86 Fahrenheit), the Iraqi dinar that has been on a rise since the start of the war, was trading at 3,500 against the dollar Friday, from 2,850 last week.

SPACE.WIRE