US intelligence analysts remain divided over whether Saddam Hussein is dead or alive following an air strike on an Iraqi leadership bunker on the opening night of the war.

"We don't know," one US official told The Washington Times. "We just don't know."

The target in southern Baghdad involved about 40 cruise missiles and precision guided bombs.

"There's no question but that the strike on that leadership headquarters was successful," US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday.

"We have photographs of what took place. The question is, what was in there? And until we gather sufficient information and intelligence, and have more than one source that gives us conviction, we have to assume that the operation is proceeding."

Rumsfeld declined to comment on reports that Saddam Hussein was seen being removed from the bombed site on a stretcher.

Another report said a hospital where he was taken was hit with air strikes.

A US official said medical personnel were called into the bunker after the attack. "But it isn't clear who was wounded or killed," he told the newspaper.

"There are all types of rumours and reports. There are some people that think he may have been killed and some who think he's alive."

Finding out what happened to Saddam will be difficult because he will be on the move and hiding if he is alive.

American intelligence agencies will continue monitoring Iraqi communications to try to learn more details.

In Baghdad, Iraq's Information Minister insisted that Saddam is alive. "They targeted the houses of Saddam Hussein and his family, but they are safe," Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf told reporters.

US officials dismissed the minister's statement as having little credibility because it was what he would be expected to say.

US intelligence agencies had "very good intelligence" that Saddam was in the building that was bombed on Wednesday night and that he was with members of his family and other senior Iraqi leaders, including his sons.

Iraq in depth: iraq.usatoday.com