Inhabited by Saddam’s most loyal servants and ringed by a Republican Guard division, Tikrit, it is suspected, may hold the secrets of his clandestine weapons of mass destruction programme.

Although the focus of American firepower is now on Baghdad, where Saddam is still believed to be hiding, US armoured units, possibly backed by reinforcements from the newly arrived 4th Infantry Division, may be diverted at a later stage to seize the symbolic town, which is 112 miles north of the capital. Intelligence sources said that Tikrit, on the Tigris, was politically and militarily significant and was believed to contain weapons of mass destruction.

US officials suspect that Saddam moved key weapons components to private homes and underground facilities there because he could rely on the intense loyalty of the 100,000 inhabitants.

The sources said that Tikrit had its own underground bunkers and tunnels, and it was not ruled out that Saddam and his closest family and regime associates might decamp to the town, where they would feel more confident of the loyalty of the people. Saddam has one of his most palatial presidential sites in Tikrit, covering about three square miles. It is surrounded by huge cement walls and guard towers.

Searches of the presidential sites in Baghdad and Basra have so far found no evidence of weapons of mass destruction, but the Tikrit palace complex may house some of the secrets that have eluded the coalition since it crossed the Kuwaiti border on March 20. Defence sources said that it was unlikely that the coalition would switch resources to tackle Tikrit until the fate of Baghdad had been resolved, unless there was firm Intelligence that Saddam and his two sons, Uday and Qusay, had managed to find refuge in the town.

With the main battle for Baghdad still to be started, General Tommy Franks, the coalition commander, is expected to preserve the bulk of his reinforcements from the 4th Infantry Division as back-up for the final assault on the capital. The division has 250 tanks.

However, Tikrit, home of Saddam’s Tikriti tribe, has always been seen as an important prize because of the demoralising impact its capture would have on a regime fighting for its survival. Tikrit was also the birthplace of Saladin, the Muslim holy warrior whom Saddam has dreamt of emulating.

In Tikrit, anti-aircraft batteries can be seen on the rooftops in the town centre and there are defensive bunkered positions along the desert roads in and out of the town.

By comparison with Baghdad, Tikrit is a relatively small town, although in recent years it has been built up with the help of millions of dollars in oil revenues. It has the best houses, schools and hospitals in the whole of Iraq.

The town is defended by a Special Republican Guard unit inside the perimeter and by the Adnan Republican Guard Division outside the town. The division that moved from Kirkuk in the north to protect Saddam’s birthplace has already been targeted by American and British bombers.

If the Americans occupy Tikrit, they may want to do it before April 28, when the town would normally be celebrating its leader’s birthday.

Saddam, born on April 28, 1937, in a mud brick hut in the village of al-Auja on the outskirts of Tikrit, will be 66 in 20 days — if he survives that long.

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