Noose tightens around Saddam and top aides, say US forces

In the centre of the capital yesterday, witnesses said at least three US soldiers were injured in an attack on their convoy. Other witnesses claimed the US soldiers were killed. The military confirmed an incident had occurred but had no information on casualties.

"I saw at least two injured soldiers, then I saw the third one who was thrown out of the car. They (others soldiers) pulled him under the car," said Alim Naati, one of the witnesses.

Shihab Ahmed, who owns a nearby flower shop, said he was told the soldiers died.

The witnesses said three soldiers were thrown from the canvas-top Humvee when a bomb was detonated as the convoy passed along Palestine Street in central Baghdad.

North of Baghdad, on the road from Baqouba to Tikrit, insurgents floated a bomb down the river on a palm log and detonated it under a bridge the military had been repairing.

It was believed to have been the first such attack by insurgents on a bridge. The structures are vital to a country with two major rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. The military closed a pontoon crossing down river that had been open for civilian traffic during the repairs.

"Because of this damage we've got to shut it to all the civilian traffic effective today," Lt Col Bill Adamson, a 4th Infantry Division commander, said. The bridge was a major link over the Diala River, a Tigris tributary, carrying traffic between the restive cities of Baquoba and Tikrit, both hotbeds of resistance in the so-called "Sunni Triangle." The region, stretching north and west from Baghdad is a major center of support for Saddam.

In Tikrit, US forces dug up freshly buried weapons, found outside an abandoned building in that once belonged to Saddam's Fedayeen militia. The munitions were sufficient for a month of guerrilla attacks on US troops, said Maj Bryan Luke, 37, of Mobile, Ala, whose patrol found the cache.

The discovery "saved a few lives out there," Luke said. "Forty mines could have caused a lot of problems for US forces here in Tikrit."

Iraqi contractors hired by the 101st Airborne Division, meanwhile, began to demolish the house in northern Mosul where Saddam's sons Odai and Qusai were killed in a firefight with US troops.

At least twice in the past week, American soldiers have raided houses where they believed they may have missed Saddam by less than 24 hours once in the northern city of Mosul and once at a farmhouse near Tikrit, Saddam's hometown and power base.

The US military would not confirm a raid in Baghdad's upscale Mansour neighbourhood on Sunday evening. Witnesses said soldiers shot their way into the home of Prince Rabiah Muhammed al-Habib, one of Iraq's most influential tribal leaders.

The prince, who wasn't at home at the time of the raid, told Associated Press that he believed the Americans were looking for Saddam.

"I found the house was searched in a very rough way. It seems the Americans came thinking Saddam Hussein was inside my house," al-Habib said. He didn't elaborate. US soldiers shot at several cars and bystanders that approached the mansion during the raid, witnesses said, and one hospital reported at least five Iraqis were killed.