Yussuf Abdul Aziz al Nassari was speaking as the US military said marines were meeting little resistance in the vicinity of Tikrit, 180 kilometresmiles) north of Baghdad, and bombardments of the city continued, notably on the edges.

"We are ready to surrender, but let them stop their bombardments. After that we are asking for just two days to persuade the fedayeen to lay down their arms," Nassari said in company with a number of other tribal chiefs.

He added that messages had already been sent to the militia, whose numbers in Tikrit he said he did not know.

A letter drawn up and signed by the tribal leaders read, "We the undersigned heads of clans in Tikrit and its surroundings are agreed not to fight or shed blood, in order to protect our property and allow the American forces, and only them, to enter the town and assume its provisional administration."

It was not clear, however, if this letter had been sent to anyone.

"The people are afraid, they are telling us to go and see the Americans, they want to surrender peacefully," another dignitary said, not wanting to be identified.

No militia or Iraqi troops could be seen in central Tikrit, only a number of armed and extremely agitated residents, who said they wanted to prevent the looting that has occurred in every Iraqi city abandoned to the coalition by forces loyal to the Iraqi leader.

The residents, carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles and grenades, told AFP they would surrender to US forces if these were not accompanied by Iraqi opponents of Saddam's regime, notably Shiites and Kurds.

Saying that much of the population of 100,000 had fled, they asked the message to be passed on that Tikrit would not resist the coalition advance being led by the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

"Let the Americans come, we will not fight," said Al Ali Musbakh, a retired civil servant, in the main street which had all its shop shutters pulled down.

"But let them come alone, no Kurds, otherwise we will fight to the end."

The AFP reporter had entered Tikrit from the north, along a road that was open and littered with abandoned armored vehicles but not secured by US-led coalition forces.

A bridge over the Tigris river was damaged but crossable, while along the main road of Saddam's hometown ornate palaces used by him and his relatives were devastated.

The fall of Tikrit would all but mark the end of the US-led war to topple Saddam launched on March 20, which has seen every other major centre in the country of 26 million people fall into the hands of the US-led coalition.

Areas around Tikrit and other parts of northern Iraq are now the focus of military operations, and coalition forces still face fierce resistance from "leftovers" of the Iraqi army, the US Central Command said Sunday in Doha, Qatar.

Large parts of the north "have been the focus of our operations in the past days," said Major Rumi Nielson-Green, stressing that Tikrit was only one of several places the US-led forces were targeting.

She said remnants of decimated Republican Guard units had banded together to fight coalition troops, but declined to comment on reports that talks for the surrender of Tikrit were underway.

Earlier, a CNN television news team was fired at after running a checkpoint while leaving the city, which it entered after a local resident, identified as a teacher, said pro-Saddam militias had fled and coalition forces were negotiating a surrender.

An armed guard in the CNN car returned fire in a dramatic exchange broadcast live, and one of the drivers in the convoy suffered a light head wound from shattered glass.

The car was fired on a second time with a pistol from a chasing vehicle and a back window was shot out.

In Washington, a Pentagon official warned journalists against being reckless

"There are still pockets of resistance around Tikrit. We are very cautious about it. It's a clear sign that Iraq is still a dangerous place," said the official.

Before the US-led invasion of Iraq, Tikrit residents had pledged to give coalition forces a bitter lesson, but on Sunday their mood had changed.

"It's true that people were for Saddam Hussein, but they are not prepared to fight for him," the local dignitary said.

Saddam and most of his top aides have not been seen since before US forces seized Baghdad last Wednesday.

"I can certainly say that we're having some success inside that area," Brigadier-General Vincent Brooks said in reference to the northern city.

"Not much combat action is occurring; that's good news," he told journalists at US Central Command headquarters at Camp As-Saliyah in Qatar.

"We are getting assistance from the Iraqi population," he added.

"Task Force Tripoli has moved north and is currently conducting operations in the vicinity of Tikrit," Captain Frank Thorp said.

SPACE.WIRE