Tony Blair voiced his doubts as he faced MPs' questions, saying: "We cannot be sure whether these broadcasts are pre-recorded.

The enemies are in real trouble now Saddam Hussein Iraqi leader addresses nation

"Some of them appear to be dated but I don't think there is an exact science in this. At the present time we simply do not know for certain."

Earlier, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told a press conference in London that the recent events referred to by Saddam were not "unambiguously contemporary".

He added: "We are well aware he spent many hours recently tape recording messages.

"I don't think it makes a great difference to our military campaign whether he is alive or dead."

Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram said the UK believed Saddam Hussein had recorded "10 hours of pre-recorded messages".

In the broadcast the Iraqi leader issued a rallying call to what he called the "brave and heroic" Iraqi people in an apparently live broadcast on national television.

The president, dressed in an olive green military uniform and reading from a script, promised that victory was near over US and British forces.

His speech - only the second broadcast since the outbreak of war - was delivered as US-led forces continued their advance towards Baghdad in the face of stiff Iraqi resistance.

Iraqi TV has shown pictures of what it said was an American Apache attack helicopter, shot down near Karbala.

US troops are still encountering stiff opposition around Nasiriya, while the British military say their forces are coming under persistent sniper attack in the areas outside Umm Qasr, Al Zubayr and Basra in the south.

Live pictures from Baghdad (video feed may be interrupted)

Saddam Hussein appeared on Iraqi television at 0800 GMT (1100 local time) to proclaim that Iraqi forces were inflicting losses on the US and UK forces.

"Victory will be ours soon," he said. "Iraqis will strike the necks as God has commanded you.

"Strike them and strike evil so that evil will be defeated."

It was not clear if the speech was live or had been recorded, but Saddam Hussein did refer to ongoing battles with US and British forces in Umm Qasr.

Asked about the apparent reference to recent events Mr Hoon said: "The contemporary events referred to did not appear to me to be unambiguously contemporary.

IRAQ CAMPAIGN Map: Military operations

"Had he wanted to indicate that this was live, that this was recent, there were many events he could have referred to and he did not. That's why we are continuing to analyse the situation."

There has been intense speculation about the fate of the Iraqi leader since the war began.

Within hours of the first US-led attack on Baghdad, a tired-looking Saddam Hussein appeared on television to urge his people to fight.

Mr Hoon said the latest broadcast was pre-recorded rather than live.