"We know that there are any number of command and control related facilites in Tikrit," Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a press briefing at US Central Command in Qatar.

"Tikrit has not escaped our interest, nor has it escaped our targeting."

He said the aim was to apply "pressure on the Iraqi forces in that area while preventing their movement to Tikrit or Baghdad."

Two days after the start of the US-British war on Iraq, US airstrikes on Tikrit killed four Iraqis, witnesses in the town, 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Baghdad, told AFP.

They said the four were killed in US and British raids that targeted local offices of Saddam's ruling Baath Party, a hotel and a museum in Tikrit.

SPACE.WIRE