Washington: Iraqi National Congress (INC) leader Ahmed Chalabi has claimed that Saddam Hussain is still alive, paying a hefty bounty for each American soldier killed and that the weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which the US troops have been unsuccessful in locating, do actually exist.

According to him, Saddam was last sighted just three days ago and in recent weeks had been spotted several times moving from Diyala, North East of Baghdad, around the river Tigris toward his home town of Tikrit and into the Dulaimi areas to the West of the Tigris, 'The Independent' reported on June 10.

He said Saddam is presently operating in Northern Iraq and using $ 1.3 billion looted from the central bank to offer bounty for all the American soldiers who are killed in Iraq. It has been reported that more than 40 US soldiers have been killed since President Bush declared that the military campaign was over.

One soldier died on June 10 in an ambush at an arms collection checkpoint in Baghdad. Chalabi is learnt to have told the Council of Foreign Relations in New York that the deposed Iraqi leader intends to have his revenge in the belief that he "can sit it out and get the Americans going".

On the other hand, the Bush administration is not ready to buy the theory that Saddam is alive. Alleging that Chalabi's claims have proved exaggerated in the past, US officials said they had no information to confirm that Saddam had survived the war.

Regarding the presence of WMDs in Iraq, the INC leader reportedly said that US troops had "moved too slowly" to seize the top officials and scientists who knew their whereabouts. This latest dead-end will only increase pressure in America for a full Congressional investigation into what critics say is a massive US intelligence failure, he added.

Till now the American troops have visited 230 sites in a bid to trace the weapons, but to no avail. On June 10, President Bush and the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also insisted that the weapons existed.

ANI