"Any fighter who is unable to join his unit for any reason, must join another available unit, until further orders," he said in a message read by a presenter.

The call to arms came as US commanders said the 3rd Infantry Division had completed Sunday the western portion of a planned encirclement of Baghdad and were waiting for US Marines to cut off the east.

On Saturday, Saddam told Iraqis the battered capital was still theirs to save and called for attacks on coalition forces across the country to relieve the pressure on the city.

That message followed an initial thrust into the capital by US tanks and ground forces, in which a US commander said an estimated 1,000 Iraqi troops were killed.

SPACE.WIRE