Asked in an interview on Abu Dhabi satellite television what damage Iraq had inflicted on US troops in and around the airport, he said: "As for the information I have I think more than 300 of them were killed."

Earlier, Sahhaf said Iraqi troops had won back the airport complex with a deadly assault on US troops that included suicide attacks.

"We have defeated them, in fact we have crushed them," he said of coalition troops. "We have pushed them outside the whole area of the airport."

However, US Central Command spokesman Major General Victor Renuart denied the claims, telling reporters at the coalition's forward operating headquarters that the airport was "secure" following its seizure by US troops on Friday.

In an earlier statement read out on Iraqi satellite television, the Iraqi regime claimed "hundreds" of "enemy" troops were killed south of the capital Baghdad.

"A violent battle took place (Saturday) between the courageous forces ... of the Republican Guard, the inhabitants of Baghdad, and the enemy who tried to approach the southern outskirts of Baghdad," the statement said.

The Iraqis were able to "decapitate" the enemy forces, it added. "The enemy had to halt and retreat ... once again, our armed forces' fire pursued them, leaving hundreds dead."

Saddam International Airport had become "a cemetery" for the US forces, the statement added, without elaborating.

SPACE.WIRE