BAGHDAD, July 4: American hopes for a “grand style” Independence Day for troops in Iraq were shattered on Friday by more deadly violence and the broadcast of a tape purported to be of former president Saddam Hussein warning that cells of fighters had been established throughout the country to fight the US-led forces.

Saddam Hussein, in a taped message dated June 14 and broadcast on Qatar’s Al Jazeera satellite television station, said “jihad cells made up of Iraqi men and women fighters have been formed on a large scale” throughout Iraq to fight the occupation forces throughout the country.

The former Iraqi leader, whose whereabouts has been a mystery since the fall of Baghdad on April 9 and on whose head Washington put a 25-million-dollar reward on Thursday, said his “aides were still in Iraq”.

On the ground, US troops killed 11 Iraqis who attempted to ambush a patrol north of Baghdad on Friday, a US military spokesman said, adding that there were no US casualties.

“The attackers attempted to engage with the patrol with small arms and RPGs. They were all killed when the patrol returned fire,” a spokesman said.

A US soldier was shot and killed by small arms fire on Thursday while protecting the Baghdad Museum, the Central Command said.

INDEPENDENCE DAY: But US troops remained defiant, vowing “grand style” Independence Day celebrations in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul with concerts, barbecue feasts and surprise “morale-boosting” events. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a lightning visit in Baghdad to cheer US soldiers at Camp Victory.—AFP