Naseer Al-Nahr • Asharq Al-Awsat

BAGHDAD, 4 July 2003 — The United States yesterday put up $25 million for information leading to the arrest of Saddam Hussein, as an upsurge in violence left at least three Iraqis dead and 10 US soldiers wounded. In a message broadcast to the Iraqi people, top civil administrator Paul Bremer also offered a reward of $15 million for information leading to the capture of Saddam’s two fugitive sons, Uday and Qusay.

“I have certainly not forgotten Saddam Hussein and his sons, among the most evil men the world has known,” Bremer said in the message. “They may or may not still be alive. Until we know for sure, their names will continue to cast a shadow of fear over this country.

“If any of you has such information I encourage you to come forward,” Bremer said of the men whose fates have remained unknown since the fall of Baghdad on April 9. Faced with daily attacks on US troops that it says are directed by former members of Saddam’s Baath Party regime, the US-led coalition has admitted that failing to account for the ousted leader is hindering reconstruction efforts.

Those attacks showed no sign of abating yesterday with four separate incidents in which three Iraqis were killed and 10 US soldiers were wounded. In Ramadi, 100 kilometers west of Baghdad, a two-vehicle convoy was targeted by what the US military described simply as “an explosive device,” wounding six soldiers.

In a separate shooting on the northern fringes of the capital in the early hours, a US soldier and a six-year-old boy were wounded in a shootout between US forces and a gunman who was with the boy. The gunman was shot dead.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said three US soldiers had been wounded in the attack, which he said was carried out either with an RPG or an improvised explosive device. A US officer at the scene of the attack on Haifa Street, said: “An innocent Iraqi citizen sitting on a street corner was also killed (by the blast), according to reports we are hearing.”