Baghdad - Another United States soldier has been killed in Iraq as an armed supporter of Saddam Hussein said followers of the ousted president were fighting across one-third of the occupied country.
The rebel tribal chief said the fugitive former president was personally directing the insurgency which is still dogging US troops eight months after they entered the Iraqi capital, and on Sunday claimed the life of a US soldier in the main northern city of Mosul.
"Saddam Hussein is in good health and living in the west of Iraq," said the man who is involved in the struggle and calls himself only Abu Mohammad.
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"The Iraqi president is commanding the military operations against the American forces," he said Saturday.
'The Iraqi president is commanding the military operations against the American forces' Baath nationalist politician working to set up a new party to support the resistance.
The politician said Saddam presided over a meeting of "dozens of Baath party cadres" at Ramadi at iftar, the meal ending the daily dawn-to-dusk fast during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.
A dissident Baath figure confirmed the secret meeting saying it took place on November 8, the same day General John Abizaid, commanding officer of US Central Command, gathered tribal leaders in Ramadi to try to work out how to halt anti-coalition attacks.
Abu Mohammad disclosed that he met Saddam who, he said, pays unannounced visits to Iraqis. "There is no risk to him in the west because people are defending him and will never betray him," the tribal leader claimed.
Washington is offering a $25-million reward for information leading to the capture of the former president who was overthrown in April.
Meanwhile, the commander of US forces in the country, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez warned that violence in Iraq can be expected to increase, although US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld promised Iraqis that American troops would stay on until they have eliminated all vestiges of Saddam's regime.
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