US troops 'narrowly missed top Saddam bodyguard'

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.

Troops stormed three farms in Tikrit, Saddam’s home town, in simultaneous pre-dawn raids early today after receiving a tip that Saddam’s new security chief was staying at one of the farmhouses, said Lieutenant Colonel Steve Russell, who led the operation, by units of the 4th Infantry.