American soldiers arrested a suspected former Ba’ath Party official in northern Iraq today as three American soldiers were killed in separate attacks.

A soldier from the US 4th Infantry Division died following a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a convoy north of the Iraqi capital, the military said today.

A US soldier, an eight-year-old Iraqi child, and a pro-American mayor and his son were killed yesterday as pro-Saddam Hussein insurgents unleashed a string of violent attacks on the eve of a recently banned Ba'ath Party holiday.

AN Australian newspaper yesterday claimed to have a tape of Saddam Hussein, recorded just days ago, urging Iraqis to rise up against the coalition forces occupying their country.

In what is purported to be his last known wartime speech – a video never before televised – Saddam Hussein appears exhausted, at times confused and seemingly resigned to defeat, but he tells Iraqis that God, somehow, will help them expel the American-British occupiers.

Hundreds of vendors have spread out across the Iraqi capital Baghdad to sell goods looted as Saddam Hussein’s regime collapsed.

Armed with rifles, Baghdad residents beat up looters and blockaded Baghdad streets today in an attempt to quell the pillaging and lawlessness running rampant in the Iraqi capital.

Lawlessness spread in Baghdad today even as the fighting dwindled to occasional bursts of machine gun fire.

THE world is holding its breath to hear whether Saddam Hussein and his two sons are dead or alive following an allied “decapitation” strike.

US FORCES said it may take some time to determine whether Saddam Hussein was killed in a bombing raid on a restaurant where he was believed to be meeting with his sons.

Rescue workers dug through rubble today to recover bodies a day after a US air strike aimed at Saddam Hussein hit a well-to-do Baghdad neighbourhood.

Air strikes were continuing today over Baghdad as US officials revealed a renewed attempt had been made to kill Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

IRAQI television yesterday showed President Saddam Hussein being cheered on the streets, in the first footage of the Iraqi leader in public aired since the start of the war on March 20.

In an edgy prelude to war, Saddam Hussein has mocked a US ultimatum to surrender power, and Washington's claim of public support from 30 nations for its international coalition supporting Iraq’s disarmament.

Saddam Hussein has appeared on Iraqi TV in military uniform after rejecting the US ultimatum to go into exile or face war.