The Iraqi military said "hundreds" of US troops were killed at Baghdad international airport on Saturday in a battle, which Iraq said it had won.
"The enemy was forced to retreat suffering hundreds of casualties and Saddam International Airport has been changed to a graveyard for the invaders," the Iraqi military said in a statement.
Earlier, Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said Iraq had recaptured the airport, which is about 20 km from central Baghdad, from the US invaders, who seized it on Friday morning.
At Central Command headquarters in Qatar, senior US spokesman Captain Frank Thorp told CNN that Iraq's claim to have retaken the airport was "quite frankly groundless".
"We still do have troops on the ground at the airport. There's sporadic fighting," Thorp added.