WASHINGTON, April 6: Troops loyal to President Saddam Hussein still control large sections in Baghdad, US Deputy Secretary of Defence Paul Wolfowitz said on Sunday.

The official said that pockets of resistance might stay even after the Iraqi government collapsed.

“The regime still controls large sections in Baghdad,” Mr Wolfowitz told the Fox News, adding: “I hope the

Iraqi people understand the regime is not going to survive this time.”

He rejected speculations in the American media that the government in Baghdad had already fallen, saying that although “the end is clear,” the Iraqi government was still sending “young men out to die.”

“It has not fallen yet but it is on its way out,” he added.

Mr Wolfowitz warned Syria to stop shipping weapons to Iraq, close its border and prevent volunteers from going to Iraq to join the Iraqi troops.

He said that although Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had warned Syria last week to change its attitude, it continued to help Iraq.

APP adds: But he touted the advances US troops have made thus far. “We are barely past two weeks of this war, and already we’ve made enormous progress, and our troops are outside of Baghdad, control Baghdad International Airport,” he said.