Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Sa'eed al-Sahhaf on Friday said that television images of Iraqis surrendering were fabricated.

"Those are not Iraqi soldiers at all," he insisted.

Sahhaf even denied that US-led troops had entered Iraq.

Denying that the city of Umm Qasr, in the south, had been taken by US-led troops, Al-Sahhaf instead said the Iraqis had destroyed two US helicopters.

However, he did admit that one of President Saddam Hussein's palaces was hit in Thursday's bombing by US forces.

No one was injured in the incident, he told reporters in Baghdad. Saddam Hussein is believed to have about a dozen official residences.

Standing next to him in military uniform was Interior Minister Mahmoud Diab al-Ahmed, carrying a Kalashnikov and wearing a flak jacket with a knife in the pocket, a pistol on his hip, and carrying Kalashnikov magazines.

On Friday, television channels were broadcasting images of some people surrendering to US and British troops somewhere in southern Iraq.

Some showed pictures of some people walking in a single file with their hands over their heads, while other images showed two men, wearing civilian clothes, waving a white flag.

It could not be confirmed if these men were Iraqi soldiers.

There has been no official acknowledgment from the US or British forces about prisoners been taken.

The US has been making every effort to encourage Iraqi soldiers to surrender or indicate that they do not intend to fight back.