Franks said in an interview with CNN that there were pockets of Iraqi resistance, "referred to as everything from paramilitary to death squad to Fedayeen Saddam," and there were also pockets of foreigners in Iraq who were determined to fight to the end.

"I think we would be premature to say well it's all done, it's all finished," he said.

"And until we have a sense that we have all of that (resistance) under control then we will probably not characterize the initial military phase as having been completed and the regime totally gone," said the US war commander.

Franks also noted that the US forces encountered no resistance in Tikrit, about 180 km north of Baghdad.

"When last I checked this force was moving on Tikrit and there was not any resistance," he said.

A spokesman for the US Central Command said earlier Sunday that US marines were operating near the key Iraqi town of Tikrit.

Tikrit, hometown of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, was widely regarded as the last stronghold of the Iraqi leader. It is now still under the control of Iraqi forces.

Franks also told CNN that he got a report that "six or seven people we had listed as missing" have been found and "they are in good shape," but he did not give any details about the US soldiers.

The war commander said he was not sure whether the six or seven US soldiers were among the ones listed as missing or the ones listed as POWs.

He made similar remarks in an interview with ABC, saying that further details will be released in "next 12 hours."

Until now, five US soldiers were listed as missing and seven were taken prisoner in the US-led war on Iraq.

Jessica Lynch, a 19-year-old female Private First Class, was rescued by US special forces from a hospital in the southern Iraqi town of Nassiriya on April 1.

(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2003)