Iraqi opposition groups in exile in London could not agree yesterday on whether to believe unconfirmed reports that President Saddam Hussein, had been taken seriously ill.
The Damascus-based Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq said on Monday it had information that Mr Saddam had suffered a severe stroke during a military parade in Baghdad on New Year's Eve.
Those reports have been dismissed as "stupid" by the Iraqi government and there has been no independent confirmation.
Mr Sharif Ali, official spokesman for the London-based opposition group the Iraqi National Congress, said it was impossible to tell if there was any truth in the rumours.
"Through our sources in Iraq we have no hard evidence that anything has happened, there is nothing concrete we can put our finger on," he said.
However, Mr Mowaffak Al-Rubaie, who described himself as an independent spokesman for the Iraqi opposition in exile, told Sky News that the Iraqi security forces had been put on alert.
He said that according to his sources, members of the ruling Ba'ath party had also been put on standby, and staff at the Iraqi radio and television station had been ordered to stay at their desks because a major announcement was expected.
Official sources in Iraq however dismissed the reports of illness.
"These reports are so silly that they do not even deserve a reply," said Mr Salam Khatab al-Nassiri, director-general of the Information Department at the Ministry of Culture and Information.
The official Iraqi News Agency (INA) said Mr Saddam chaired a cabinet meeting yesterday, the first in 2001. The cabinet hailed the Palestinian people's courage in their uprising against Israeli occupation, INA said.
"All of the world has seen how President Saddam Hussein had stood for more than five hours greeting units of our brave army at the Al-Aqsa Call Parade," Mr Nassiri said.
"He also fired more than 140 shots one-handed, something most young people are unable to do - this alone is enough as a reply to this absurd news," he added.
Mr Saddam presided on Sunday over what appeared to be the biggest military parade in Baghdad since the 1991 Gulf War, greeting army units with shots from a rifle he held in one hand.
The four-hour parade displayed sophisticated surface-to-surface and anti-aircraft missiles, artillery and over 1,000 modern, Russian-made tanks as well as infantry units.
Formations of jet fighters and helicopter gunships hovered over central Baghdad's Grand Festivities Square as forces representing all Iraqi military units including the navy, flowed past.
No figures were given for the number of troops or components of hardware taking part in the so-called Al-Aqsa Call Parade, intended as a show of support for the Palestinians.
Mr Saddam has survived a decade of UN sanctions imposed for his invasion of Kuwait.