According to a report on Sunday, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his two sons fled Baghdad three days ago.

"I have been informed that once he had firm evidence that the Americans were closing in on Baghdad, he fled to his hometown of Tikrit," claimed Haitham Rashid Wihaib, the president's former chief of protocol, in The Mail.

The dictator, who used to move around in a vast fleet of heavily armoured Mercedes, left by way of taxis and battered pickup trucks.

"He has taken his two sons Uday and Qusay, and a handful of key advisors still loyal to him. In Baghdad, each local commander has been told to act as he sees fit," Wihaib said.

Wihaib, who claimed to have worked for Saddam for nearly 20 years, said he also got to know about the president's doubles.

He said, "And the Saddam Hussein we saw shaking the hands of his subjects in that extraordinary walkabout on Friday, was definitely a doppelganger, thinner than the real thing and without his rolling walk.

"This was a stunt ordered by his son Qusay in an attempt to convince the allies that Saddam was still in Baghdad and a last ditch bid to show the Iraqi people their leader was brave and prepared to fight from the capital.

"But Saddam is not brave. He is mad and desperate and… readying himself for exile."

Wihaib said that by next weekend, Saddam 'will either be dead or captured or will have fled his ravaged country'.

"In anticipation of his escape, he has already been moving out vast quantities of his wealth and property, with valuable paintings turning up discretely in auction houses as far away as Geneva. Much of his jewellery, exquisite Persian rugs and a vast collection of watches are being traded for dollars in sympathetic Middle Eastern countries.

"His first wife Sajida and their three daughters and grandchildren are staying at the Iraqi ambassador's residence in Damascus. His latest wife, 27-year-old Iman, was moved to a private house in Jordan last week and Saddam and his sons are ready to flee at any moment.

"But one thing is certain: Saddam will only be captured if he is taken by surprise. He has given the strictest instructions that he should be shot by a bodyguard if the enemy noose is tightening," Wihaib said.