US troops may have killed or arrested Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Saddam Hussein's top former deputy who is suspected of leading the anti-US insurgency, an Iraqi official said yesterday. Officials of the US-led coalition in Baghdad said they had no information on the report.

　　Al-Douri, No 6 on the US list of most-wanted Iraqis, may have been arrested or killed in a US raid in Kirkuk in northern Iraq, a senior Kurdish official in Kirkuk said on condition of anonymity.

　　"I heard he might have been killed or captured," the official said, citing sources in his political party.

　　US officials last week offered a US million reward for information leading to al-Douri's capture. Aside from Saddam, Al-Douri is the most senior official of the former regime who is still at large.

　　Last week, US troops arrested a wife and a daughter of al-Douri in an apparent attempt to pressure himsintossurrendering.

　　In Baghdad, workers yesterday began dismantling four giant bronze busts of Saddam Hussein that have long been a Baghdad landmark.

　　The workers used a construction crane to take down the busts in the Republican Palace, in yet another move aimed at eradicating the former leader's influence. The US-led Coalition Provisional Authority announced last month that it would dismantle the four-meter-high busts. It was not clear how long the operation would last.

　　Meanwhile, a witness said insurgents ambushed American soldiers just south of Samarra, a cityswherestroops and insurgents fought a pitched battle on Sunday. US commanders claimed that up to 54 guerrillas were killed in the clash on Sunday, but this has been disputed by residents and hospital officials who say less than 10 people - most of them civilians - died.

　　Yesterday's ambush occurred on the road between Baghdad and Samarra, 95 kilometers north of the capital, witnesses said. An Associated Press photographer said he saw American soldiers using a stretcher to carry a body covered in plastic. It was unclear who the victim was.

　　A military spokesman said he had no information about the reported clash.

　　In addition to attacking coalition forces, rebels in recent days have killed a number of nonmilitary personnel, including two Japanese diplomats, two South Korean electrical workers and a Colombian contractor.

　　Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain's chief representative in Iraq, warned that insurgents are now turning to softer targets and urged foreigners to increase security levels.

　　"People have to be very careful. The Spaniards and the Japanese who were killed this week were not following the strictest possible protection rules," Greenstock told British Broadcasting Corporation radio.

　　Greenstock said he was confident coalition troops would retain a grip on events and said the coalition backed the aggressive approach to tackling security problems being taken by Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the top US commander in Iraq.

　　During the past month, US troops have pounded suspected guerrilla targets under a new "get-tough" campaign against the insurgency. Despite the crackdown, November has proven to be the deadliest for coalition troops since the war began.