An audiotape purportedly from Saddam Hussein was broadcast by al-Arabiya television yesterday in which the speaker said his two sons, Uday and Qusay, had died as martyrs for Iraq.
"I mourn to you the deaths of Uday and Qusay and those who struggled with them. You are the honour of this nation," the tape said. "America will be defeated."
The authenticity of the tape could not be confirmed last night.
Saddam's feared sons were killed by US forces in a fierce gunbattle last Tuesday in the northern city of Mosul along with a 14- year-old boy thought to be one of their sons and one other person.
"They all died martyrs in the name of Jihad," the voice said, adding that every fighter for Jihad (holy war) would want to die in the same way as his sons.
Yesterday, US forces hunting Saddam captured three key figures loyal to him, including a top bodyguard. The army expressed confidence that it was closing in on the deposed dictator.
"Members of the 4th Infantry Division detained four individuals in Tikrit. Three of those individuals are believed to be former regime loyalists," a US spokesman said. "They are being questioned as we speak."
The US Deputy Secretary of State, Mr Richard Armitage, said US forces nearly captured Saddam in raids on Monday near his home town of Tikrit. "I think most people feel that the noose is tightening pretty regularly around the neck of Saddam Hussein; even today there were three raids and we believe we were just hours behind Saddam Hussein," he said on CNN.
Maj Josslyn Aberle of the 4th Infantry in Tikrit said one of the captured Saddam loyalists put up a brief struggle and two gunshots were heard as the raid began, but there were no US casualties.
Television pictures showed a man being escorted from a building by American soldiers, blood seeping through a blindfold.
Maj Aberle said Saddam was sure to be captured. "When, I don't know, because he's a master of hiding, but when people are on the run they get tired and start making mistakes."
Officers say that after Uday and Qusay were killed last week - and Washington promised to pay the man who betrayed them a $30 million reward - many more Iraqis were coming forward with information on Saddam.
On Sunday, soldiers from Task Force 20, the special team set up to hunt Saddam, staged a bloody raid on a villa in Baghdad. They found no trace of Saddam or his top lieutenants, but five Iraqis were killed when troops opened fire on cars driving near the house.
Furious locals accused soldiers of firing indiscriminately on innocent civilians. Army spokesmen declined to comment, saying they were not authorised to discuss Task Force 20 operations.
Washington hopes that finding Saddam would help end a guerrilla campaign which has killed 50 US troops since Mr Bush declared major combat over on May 1st. It also hopes tentative efforts at self-rule will appease Iraqis who dislike the US occupation.
The 25 US appointees on the Governing Council have been making slow progress in its two weeks of existence. It finally agreed yesterday to set up a collective presidency, under which nine of its members, drawn from Iraq's disparate ethnic and religious groups, would take the chair for a month or two each. - (Reuters)