"In the end we don't know, but in my best judgment he is," said Hoon when asked if he thought Saddam was still in Iraq two weeks after US troops stormed his seat of power.

"There are any number of stories coming in about where he might have been," said Hoon.

The British defence minister, who was the first senior coalition official to visit Iraq since Saddam's ouster, said he was not disheartened by the small number of regime officials detained so far.

"We have seen, day by day, successes as we capture some more of those who are to blame," he said.

To date coalition troops have captured just eight of the 55 former Iraqi officials Washington says it wants to see behind bars.

SPACE.WIRE