"Raghad Hussein and Rana Hussein gathered together with their nine children (overnight Friday) to wait for news," the lawyer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Several of Saddam's lawyers were with them at Raghad's residence in the west of the Jordanian capital, where the eldest daughter Raghad was said to have reacted "stoically".

"He was their father, and he was not just any father," the lawyer said. "You can imagine their grief."

Saddam's daughters and their children took refuge in Jordan on July 30, 2003, four months after the US-led invasion that led to their father's downfall.

His widow Sajida and youngest daughter Hala settled in Qatar's capital Doha, while sons Uday and Qusay died in an assault by US troops in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in July 2003.