Dubai: With a US-led attack on Iraq looking imminent, a defiant President Saddam Hussein on March 17 threatened a wider war, taking it to wherever "there is sky, land and water" even as a number of countries asked their nationals to leave the region.

In a concrete sign of an impending war, the UN observer mission along Iraqi border ceased its operations and pulled out its staff out of the area while US, UK, Russia, Germany, Australia and several other countries asked their nationals and non-essential diplomats and their families to leave the war-risk zone.

India has also closed its Embassy in Baghdad and its staff has shifted to Jordan.

The advisory to their nationals from various countries came hours after US and its partners Britain and Spain gave the UN till today to agree to a resolution seeking authorisation of war if Iraq failed to disarm immediately.

Speaking after his summit talks with British and Spanish Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Jose Maria Aznar respectively, President Bush said that Monday (March 17) was a "moment of truth for the world, giving the UN one more day for diplomacy to war."

In Baghdad, Saddam Hussein told senior military officials, telecast by Iraqi television, "If God wanted, by God, we will fight them with daggers, swords and sticks if other arms were scarce."

He said, "If the enemy opens the battle on a wide scale, we will open wherever there is sky, land and water on the entire earth."

PTI