The push north came as the US Central Command said forward elements of the 30,000-strong 4th Infantry Division had crossed from Kuwait into Iraq, with the United States trying to wipe out the last remnants of Saddam loaylists.

"We have been relentless in our effort, focussed on the Tikrit area," Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said at the Command's headquarters in Qatar, adding that troops were moving into the region north of Baghdad which includes Tikrit.

Saddam's native city is the last major target on US battle maps since coalition forces have taken control of all of Iraq's other major cities, and the area has come under intense and regular bombardment.

Captain Frank Thorp told reporters lead elements of the 4th Infantry Division had entered Iraqi from Kuwait.

"As of this morning there are lead elements of the 4th Infantry Division on the move. The people have been flying in and the equipment is shipped in and they're continuing to marry up," he said.

They were flown into Kuwait when the United States was forced to alter its initial strategy after the Turkish parliament rejected a request to allow 62,000 US troops, including the 4th Infantry Division, to pass through Turkey.

Brooks said coalition forces had detained 59 men who had letters offering rewards for killing US soldiers and carried a total of 630,000 dollars in cash. He did not specify if they were Iraqis.

He said the United States was offering "appropriate" cash rewards for information that leads to the capture of Saddam, leaders of his regime and to weapons of mass destruction.

The United States on Friday released a list of 55 top regime figures it wants captured or killed.

Fifty-two of them were illustrated in a deck of cards being distributed to ground commanders.

German television channel ZDF said it had filmed the surrender of a top Saddam aide, General Amir al-Saadi, to US forces in Baghdad. He was not on the list.

Elsewhere in the north, US troops were deployed outside the governor's office in Kirkuk, a sign they were steadily taking control of the oil-rich city from Kurdish forces.

A group of around 20 soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Division, which parachuted into Iraqi Kurdistan late last month, were seen guarding the building's entrance without the presence of Kurdish peshmerga fighters.

It was not clear if the deployment was permanent.

Kirkuk was seized Thursday by Kurdish fighters backed by US special forces who were almost unopposed. Hundreds of Kurdish policemen later arrived to try to restore order when the situation began spinning out of control because of looting.

Turkey, which has a sizeable and restive Kurdish minority, has threatened to intervene militarily if Kurdish forces remained in control of Kirkuk and nearby Mosul, which control access to major oilfields.

But for now there is "no need for the Turkish army to enter northern Iraq," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said in Ankara.

In Mosul, which has an Arab rather than Kurdish majority, hospital sources said as many as 20 people have been killed and more than 200 wounded since Friday in fighting between the two ethnic groups.

Sporadic small-arms fire seemed to be intensifying in the city, where the population had been largely loyal to Saddam.

"There is shooting from everywhere," from both the Kurdish and Arab sides, said a US soldier guarding the hospital.

Earlier, the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera reported calm was gradually returning to Mosul after two days of pillaging that followed the withdrawal of Iraqi forces and the entry of Kurdish fighters.

Kurdish forces had taken over main intersections and armed men were patrolling major roads leading into the city, recovering items that had been stolen, according to Al-Jazeera's correspondent.

From Mosul's mosques, appeals went out to police officials of the deposed regime to return to their duties.

In Baghdad, looting and anarchy have also followed the US advance, and hospitals and the UN offices there have been stripped clean.

Hundreds of Iraqi volunteers including a handful of police officers offered Saturday to help restore order and services to the capital, shattered and lawless after three weeks of relentless bombing of Saddam's regime.

Chaos nonetheless still reigned, prompting concern from aid groups and the United Nations, which has urged US forces to respect its international obligations as an occupying power and to impose the rule of law.

Most shops kept their shutters down, and armed shopkeepers stood guard outside to defend against looters.

US troops discovered a large cache of light weapons in a central Baghdad residence, including gold-plated assault rifles inscribed as gifts from Saddam.

"It is definitely a major discovery," said a US officer who asked not to be identified.

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