Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's fate remains unknown as jubilant Iraqis and US marines tore down a metal statue of the president in the heart of Baghdad yesterday, bringing his 24-year iron-fisted rule to an end.

After a US armoured vehicle pulled the statue down, cheering crowds of Iraqis danced with joy while stomping o­n its broken head and limbs, an incident televised live worldwide.

"The game is over," the regime's ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Mohammed Aldouri, told CNN . "I hope that peace will prevail".

Widespread looting

The crowd also dragged the decapitated head of the statue through the city streets and Washington described the Iraqi people's 'thirst for freedom' as heartening.

The security vacuum in the capital of five million people led to widespread looting as people carted away anything they could from air-conditioning units to flower pots.

However, CNN said the streets became silent by nightfall as fearful residents ducked back into their homes.

US marines patrolled the darkened streets in the capital early today, where the electricity was still off in many areas.

Iraqi officials

Journalists in Baghdad reported that senior Iraqi officials did not turn up for work yesterday and reporters were free to move about the city without the minders from the Information Ministry who normally shadowed their every move.

Among those officials not seen Wednesday was the defiant Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, who had been confidently predicting a coalition defeat in recent days.

Marines also entered the home of Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, finding evidence that he had left o­nly recently - with blankets draped over the furniture, as if he planned to return.

There was still no word o­n the fate of the 65-year-old president or his sons Uday and Qusay, who were targetted by US bombs in a residential area o­n Monday.

American officials said they did not know if the Iraqi leader had survived the attack but there were reports quoting the British intelligence service MI6 as saying that he did.

MI6 reportedly said that they believe the president had left a building shortly before it was struck by four 'bunker buster' bombs.

History unfolds

"He's either dead, or he's incapacitated, or he's healthy and cowering in some tunnel someplace, trying to avoid being caught," said US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

He also cautioned that the campaign in Iraq was far from but added that the apparent collapse of Saddam's regime marked "a very good day".

"We are seeing history unfold, events that will shape the course of a country, the fate of a people and potentially the future of the region," he said.

"Saddam Hussein is now taking his rightful place alongside Hitler, Stalin, Lenin [and] Ceausescu in the pantheon of failed brutal dictators, and the Iraqi people are well o­n their way to freedom," he added.

Rumsfeld conceded that "we do not control Baghdad completely," but said, "Neither does the regime."

Bombing continues

In the northern front, coalition warplanes launched their heaviest wave of bombing early this morning.

It was reported that the bombing runs were designed to soften up Iraqi lines, and local Kurdish commanders said they expected to gain significant ground later in the day as the result of the strikes.

In other developments, CNN said the US has moved o­ne of its newest and biggest bombs to the Persian Gulf region and it could possibly be used in Iraq.

Officials said the 21,000 pound bomb - nicknamed 'mother of all bombs' - has been moved to an undisclosed forward base.

Its official name is MOAB or the Massive Ordinance Air Blast.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was temporarily halting its work in Baghdad because of the chaos and also announced that a Canadian Red Cross staffer had been killed in crossfire.