A US covert commando force has been created to hunt for Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, according to a US newspaper.
The special operations team, known as Task Force 121, has already come close to catching Saddam, officials claim, but declined to give further details.
Pentagon officials told the New York Times that the commander for US forces from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean formed the Special Operations group in the last few months.
Military officers said that focusing the intelligence and the Special Operations firepower within one organisation streamlines the effort to use information and mount attacks, the paper said.
The force is designed to strike against the two men or other “high-value targets” in America’s war on terror.
US officials believe the failure to capture Saddam is encouraging guerilla attacks on US forces in Iraq.
It is even reported that the deposed Iraqi leader could be co-ordinating the attacks.