Suicide bomber honoured by Saddam

SADDAM HUSSEIN handsomely rewarded the army officer who targeted US forces in a suicide bombing, honouring him with a posthumous promotion, two new medals and a huge financial windfall for his family.

Calling the tactic a "routine military policy," Saddam's regime threatened more such attacks on Americans and Britons even on their own soil.

The bomber, posing as a taxi driver, struck on Saturday, killing himself and four soldiers. He pulled up close to a roadblock north of the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf, waved to American troops for help, then blew up his vehicle when they approached.

Iraq's vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, indicated the attack was part of a co-ordinated effort to thwart invaders who can't be defeated by conventional warfare. He also raised the spectre of terrorism on US or British soil. "We will use any means to kill our enemy in our land and we will follow the enemy into its land," Ramadan said.

The bomber identified as Ali Jaafar al-Noamani, a noncommissioned officer with several children was posthumously promoted to colonel and awarded two medals Al-Rafidin, or The Two Rivers, and the Mother of All Battles, state TV reported. His family reportedly was awarded 100 million dinars the equivalent of $34,000, a fortune in Iraq.

It was the first known suicide attack since the invasion began. Coalition officials said it would not change the way the US-led forces proceed except that they would be more cautious in vulnerable locations like checkpoints. "It's just a reminder that there are some very desperate people out there, we've got to be on our toes," Gen Richard

Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the BBC.

Ramadan said thousands of Arab volunteers have been pouring into Iraq since the start of the war. Abdul-Baqi Saadoun, a Ba'ath Party official in southern Iraq, said fighters were competing to die in suicide attacks.