TIKRIT, Iraq, April 14: US tanks on Monday took control of Saddam Hussein’s last stronghold of Tikrit signalling a swift end in sight to the Iraq war, as the coalition shored up its hold on Baghdad to stamp out looting and lawlessness.

The seizure of the last Iraqi city marked the final major military engagement of the campaign launched on March 20.

For the second day hundreds of Iraqis milled in front of the Palestine Hotel in central Baghdad where the Americans have set up an operations base. Anger and frustration mixed with hope of finding a role in their US-occupied country.

“There is no one to talk to. There is no way we can communicate,” said Ali Abdul Hadi, a 42-year-old former policeman. “We are not angry but we want the police to return. We want to feel safe.”

After air strikes throughout the night, US armour poured into Tikrit, meeting resistance only on the edges of Saddam’s tribal stronghold.

Five armoured vehicles were deployed in a main square of the city early Monday, said an AFP correspondent.

US troops aboard four helicopters had landed unopposed near the Tikrit headquarters of Saddam’s Fedayeen militia, and Sergeant Robert Chute said three US marine reconnaissance battalions entered the city before dawn. “My feeling is this means the end of the war,” Chute said. “We didn’t encounter any resistance in the city, but only on the outskirts last night. We had bad ambushes there.” Firefights with what Chute believed to be Iraqi soldiers had left at least one Iraqi dead, while US units reported no wounded or dead.

US Central Command downplayed talk that Tikrit had fallen and said some Saddam loyalists there had not given up the fight.

“There are still some operations to be done in Tikrit, there are some regime forces that are still in the area and that haven’t surrendered yet,” said spokesman Lieutenant Herbert Josey.

The city was deserted of Iraqi regular troops and much of its 100,000 population, although a handful of residents emerged from their homes to catch a glimpse of the US troops.

The US attack came despite the offer of tribal chiefs to negotiate a peaceful entry by coalition troops.—AFP