But Air Force Lieutenant General Norton Schwartz, operations director of the Joint Staff, cautioned that guerrilla attacks on US troops were likely to persist even if Hussein is killed or captured.

"I think it's safe to say that sources are improving. We have people in custody who are providing information, we have walk-ins who are providing information, and we are continuing to pursue those leads," he said.

More than 1,100 people have been detained in a succession of overlapping US military operations over the past month, including 68 people Schwartz described as former leaders of the Hussein regime.

An informant gave up the Iraqi leader's two sons, Uday and Qusay, who were killed a week ago in a six hour assault on a mansion in Mosul where they were hiding.

Hussein appeared to break his silence on their death in a taped message aired Tuesday by the Al Arabiya satellite television network.

A speaker identified as Hussein mourned the two and his grandson Mustafa as martyrs and called on Arab youths to join them in a jihad.

Hussein is believed to be the ultimate target of a series of US raids since in Baghdad and Tikrit.

Schwartz would not be drawn on how close US commanders believe they are to netting Saddam.

But they believe "that he relocates repeatedly during the day, and during the night," he said. "This is his standard modus operandi."

"What is new is that we're getting more informants, it's getting better all the time," said Larry DiRita, the Pentagon's chief spokesman.

The decision whether to take Hussein alive or kill him will be left to the commander on the ground, the Pentagon officials said.

"It is a complex matter. It has to do with the character of the target, it has to do with the circumstances, it has to do with the kind of defensive measures taken. And given that array of considerations, the commander on the ground makes a decision on whether it is capture or kill," said Schwartz.

"In many cases, it is the subject of the pursuit that makes the decision," DiRita added. "In the case of Uday and Qusay they made the decision not to come out alive because they decided to fight back."

Meanwhile, the number of attacks on US forces has diminished but the assailants are becoming more effective. Fifty 50 US troops have been killed since President George W. Bush declared the end of major military operations May 1.

"What we've seen is a transition from what began as small arms attacks to attacks with the use of rocket-propelled grenades and now the use of improvised explosive devices. That reflects a level of sophistication which has occurred over time," Schwartz said.

Even if Hussein is captured or killed, he said, "there will be some disenfranchised individuals who will continue to resist. We will reduce that resistance."

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