On the run or underground, they are being hunted -- as are Saddam Hussein and his sons -- by US forces now consolidating their hold over the Iraqi capital and other key cities further south.

"We will pursue former Iraqi leaders wherever they are," General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Abu Dhabi television news.

He also warned that US troops would not necessarily respect the diplomatic status of embassies that might shelter members of Saddam Hussein's inner circle.

"As a soldier, if I come across an official of a regime with which we are at war, I will respect diplomatic immunity only if the person holds a diplomatic passport," Myers said.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has claimed that senior Iraqi leaders are fleeing to neighboring Syria, in some cases to stay, in others to move elsewhere.

"Senior regime people are moving out of Iraq into Syria and Syria is continuing to send things into Iraq. We find it notably unhelpful," he said, repeating a charge that Iraqi forces had acquired night vision goggles sent via Syria.

"In some cases, they stay there, finding safe keeping there. In other cases, they're moving from Syria to still other places. We've also seen people from Syria moving into Iraq, unhelpfully," he added.

Leading Iraqi officials, notably Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf -- who gave daily briefings denying an advance by US-led forces -- and other leaders were nowhere to be seen Thursday.

But Iraqis vented their rage on them nonetheless by ransacking some of their luxury homes.

In the Jadria and Hay Babel areas on the eastern bank of the Tigris, the villas of Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, Saddam's daughter Hala, his half-brother Watban and army generals were systematically looted, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene.

Around midday, a US army unit that had been stationed overnight at Tareq Aziz's home joked with a group of around 20 looters who feverishly waited outside in anticipation of being able to get at the goods inside.

As soon as the soldiers left, the group rushed in to grab anything that came to hand. US officers said the furniture inside the house had been left covered with sheets, as if the owner had been planning to return.

Saddam loyalists of lesser stature also face some tough times ahead, although they at least have some hope of getting home.

Coalition forces are currently holding some 7,300 prisoners of war -- who either surrendered or were captured -- at an internment facility in the southern Iraqi town of Umm Qasr, a US officer at the site said Wednesday.

Army Colonel John Della Jacono said they would remain there until the end of the war when a decision would be made on their repatriation either to "an interim authority or a legitimate government in Iraq."

All those held at Umm Qasr would be "vetted" and classified either as prisoners of war or civilian internees accused of having acted against the US-British-Australian coalition that is conducting the war against Iraq, he added.

"Once they're vetted, they are either fully accorded enemy prisoner of war status or they might be turned over to criminal prosecution for a crime committed against the coalition or against the Iraqi people," Della Jacono said.

Representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross have visited the facility, where the detainnes sleep in tents, 15 to 20 per tent, and have deemed their tratment satisfactory, he said.

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