WASHINGTON, July 31: US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday approved a 30 million dollars reward to the person who led US forces to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s sons, the State Department said.

The United States speeded up the approval process, which usually takes months, to encourage Iraqis to provide information about Saddam Hussein himself.

“It’s important to show people that we do what we say we are going to do, to make clear to people that if we make an offer like this, we are going to stand behind it,” said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

The United States is offering up to 25 million dollars for information on the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein.

Mr Boucher declined to name the recipient, but media reports have said he is Nawaf al Zeidane, the businessman in whose house in the northern city of Mosul the sons, Uday and Qusay, took refuge. They were killed there by US forces in a gunbattle on July 22.

“We are not giving any information that would narrow it down. We’re being very careful about the individual’s identity in every possible way,” he said.

The reward, 15 million dollars for each of the two men, would be the largest ever paid by the US.—Reuters