Tikrit, July 28: US soldiers discovered 40 anti-tank mines, dozens of mortar rounds and hundreds of pounds of gunpowder today buried 400 metres from the gates of the 4th infantry division's headquarters here in Saddam Hussein's hometown. The freshly buried weapons, found outside an abandoned building in Tikrit that once belonged to Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen militia, were sufficient for a month of guerrilla attacks on us troops, said Maj Bryan Luke, 37, of mobile, Alabama, whose patrol found the weapons cache. Finding "this cache saved a few lives out there," Luke said. "Forty mines could have caused a lot of problems for US forces here in Tikrit." The city has become a center in the intensifying hunt for Saddam and his top officials. US soldiers based here said they missed catching Saddam's security chief and possibly the former dictator himself by a mere 24 hours in a pre-dawn raid yesterday. Soldiers captured a group of men believed to include five to 10 of Saddam's bodyguards in a raid in the city on Thursday. US soldiers in Tikrit are pitted against members of Saddam's extended family and relatives of his inner circle. Since July 17, the 22nd Infantry regiment has killed seven of ousted dictators relatives in action, wounded two and captured 12, said regiment commander Lt Col Steven Russell, 40, from Del City, Oklahoma.

"They're down to very few people that they can still trust and they're relying on their family," Russell said.

Bureau Report