Saddam adviser surrenders, US bombs Tikrit

Saadi told German television network ZDF he had no idea where Saddam Hussein was and insisted Iraq had none of the chemical or biological weapons that Washington gave as its reason for going to war.

US President George W. Bush, in his weekly radio address to the nation on Saturday, said the war was not yet over. He warned that ‘‘hard fighting’’ might lie ahead for troops putting down pockets of resistance.

Bush also recalled the moment that symbolised US victory — the toppling of a giant statue of Saddam in the heart of Baghdad.

In central Baghdad, a firefight erupted and US troops said they had killed 20 foes. In the North, planes bombed Saddam’s home town of Tikrit, the only major centre still holding out.

Bush hailed Saddam’s fall, but made no mention of chaos that has erupted as gangs, freed from decades of iron control, ransacked offices, shops and even Baghdad’s antiquities museum.

A week after they entered Baghdad, Marines set up round-the-clock patrols and planned a night curfew in some quarters to check the lawlessness. Anarchy and violence also traumatised Mosul and Kirkuk.

US commanders focused on wrapping up the 24-day-old war, sending planes to pound Tikrit, 180 km of Baghdad, and sending in Army reinforcements from Kuwait — but they also said they would cut their naval presence in the Gulf.

In Baghdad, gangs ransacked the National Museum, grabbing treasures dating back thousands of years to the dawn of civilisation in Mesopotamia. ‘‘They have looted or destroyed 170,000 items of antiquity….They were worth billions,” said deputy director Nabhal Amin, weeping.

There were unconfirmed foreign media reports of violent Arab-Kurd clashes in Mosul. US troops moved into Mosul in large numbers for the first time.

US forces also took control of the last known Baghdad stronghold of Saddam loyalists, where Arab volunteers had been holding out for three days.

Saddam’s whereabouts remained a mystery as the US military announced rewards covering information about the Iraqi President, his associates and weapons of all kinds. Some theories suggest Saddam might be hiding in Tikrit, where loyal fighters are suspected of preparing a last stand. Others suggest he died in a bombing raid on Baghdad on Monday — though residents said they saw his son Qusay alive after the attack. (Reuters)