US troops search for Saddam in Baghdad

US soldiers search the al-Arz Hotel (Cedar Hotel) on Tuesday in Baghdad, where the office of Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency is located. US troops cordoned off the general neighbourhood conducting search operations, though it remained unclear as to who or what they were looking for. Photo: AFP

"We're conducting an operation against former regime loyalists and possible blacklist members," US Major John Frisbee told AFP.

"We have reports that some of these people have been spotted," he said, adding: "We will try to catch them."

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He said the troops were also searching buildings in the area that may serve as safe houses for supporters of Saddam, who has been in hiding since US troops toppled him on April 9.

An Iraqi policeman, who asked not to be named, said one person claimed to have seen the fugitive ex-leader in a car in the area.

An employee at the Cedar Hotel, within the area sealed off with barbed wire and several dozen armored military vehicles, said US troops asked him whether he had seen Saddam.

A Turkish guest at the hotel, Gulin Pasturk, said a US soldier had told her Tuesday evening "Saddam was seen here 10 minutes ago."

US forces searched the hotel, but declined to say whether they were looking for Saddam.

A large area of Baghdad's Karada neighborhood was sealed off with residents and guests, among them several foreign correspondents, prevented from entering or leaving the area where at least 100 soldiers were deployed.

Meanwhile, Iraq's interim government spoke out bluntly Wednesday against the deployment of Turkish troops here, highlighting a growing rift between the country's budding leadership and the US-led coalition.

Iraqis worried the dispatch of soldiers from neighboring Turkey would pose another obstacle in the country's drive for sovereignty six months after US forces toppled Saddam Hussein.

"Sending these troops would delay our regaining sovereignty," said council member Nasseer Chaderchi.

The spectre of Turkish troops on Iraqi soil drew attention to the Governing Council's weak position in relation to the Americans who have pushed for the idea, ignoring the historic tensions between Iraq and Turkey.