US soldiers said they missed catching Saddam Hussein’s security chief — and possibly the former Iraqi president himself — by a mere 24 hours early yesterday.

United States soldiers said today that they missed catching Saddam Hussein’s security chief – and possibly the former dictator himself – by a mere 24 hours.

A shoot-out between American forces and Syrian border guards left a scene of destruction, with burned out vehicles and wounded men, US officials said today.

US defence officials were today investigating whether a strike on three vehicles fleeing Iraq near the Syrian border killed former dictator Saddam Hussein or his sons.

A GRENADE attack killed a US soldier in Iraq yesterday as a pipeline fire blazed on after an overnight explosion described by an Oil Ministry official as sabotage.

US forces were today questioning the man who may lead them to Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction hidden in Iraq.

AMERICAN forces have taken into custody Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, Saddam's presidential secretary and number four on the US most-wanted list of Iraqi leaders, a US official said yesterday.

American forces have taken into custody Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, Saddam Hussein’s presidential secretary and number four on the US most-wanted list of Iraq leaders, a US official said today.