Saddam tip spurs US raid

BAGHDAD - Forces backed by helicopters yesterday besieged a district in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul after receiving a tip that Saddam Hussein was hiding there.

Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite channel, reported that soldiers, backed by air support and extra troop reinforcements, moved into the al-Arabi district after receiving intelligence suggesting that Saddam was in the neighbourhood.

It said soldiers in 15 armoured vehicles combed farms on the outskirts of Mosul, 400km north of Baghdad, as helicopters flew overhead.

"There is a heavy presence of US troops, acting on information that Saddam may be hiding in the al-Arabi neighbourhood," one resident said.

The BBC reported that one of its journalists saw three helicopters hovering over the property of Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tal, who was once Saddam's Defence Minister.

Sightings in recent weeks have included the ousted dictator dressed in an Arab robe, bearded and in sunglasses moving from hideout to hideout using three cars.

In others, he has allegedly been spotted eating a meal in a humble Bedouin home. He may even have paid a visit to a doctor's surgery in Mosul, if one tipster is to be believed.

Mosul is where Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay were killed in a shootout with hundreds of American troops in July.

Meanwhile, a British opinion poll shows that over 60 per cent of Britons think the Government should withdraw its troops from Iraq.

The poll for the Daily Mirror newspaper and television show GMTV found 29 per cent of respondents wanted troops pulled out as soon as possible and 32 per cent called for a phased withdrawal.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's Government has been put under a harsh spotlight by a judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the apparent suicide of Iraq weapons expert Dr David Kelly and public displeasure at the growing number of British servicemen killed in postwar Iraq.

- INDEPENDENT, REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq