They said the bodies were wrapped in Iraqi flags and buried in a local cemetery after arriving from Baghdad in an ambulance. There was a heavy US army presence and journalists were prevented from photographing or filming the burial.

Uday and Qusay were killed on July 22 when US troops attacked their hideout in the northern city of Mosul with grenades, heavy machineguns, rockets and anti-tank missiles.

US officers said they hoped the killing of the brothers would demoralise guerrillas mounting daily ambushes on US troops. But there has been no let-up in attacks.

A US army spokesman said one soldier was killed and three wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a 4th Infantry Division convoy in northern Iraq late on Friday. The ambush brought to 53 the number of US soldiers killed in hostile action since Washington declared major combat over on May 1.

A US army spokesman confirmed the bodies of Saddam's sons had been handed over to the Iraqi Red Crescent, but would make no further comment on the burial.

Muslim tradition stipulates that bodies must be buried as soon as possible after death. But US officials, anxious to avoid the grave site of the brothers becoming a shrine, said they had delayed the burial while they consulted prominent Iraqis on what should be done with the corpses.

Around 40 tribesmen gathered in the village of Awja on the edge of Tikrit yesterday morning, digging graves in the sun-baked earth for Uday and Qusay.

The bodies were covered with Iraqi flags, and tribesmen heaped stones and earth on the graves.

Mahmoud al-Nada, an elder of the Beijat tribal group that includes Saddam's family, led the mourners in prayer at the graveside as wind whipped clouds of dust into the air.

Some locals in Tikrit, a stronghold of support for Saddam, said they regarded the dead brothers as martyrs.

"They are the heroes of Iraq," one said.

US troops have mounted several raids in Tikrit over the past week, searching for Saddam and his top lieutenants. Officers say the net is closing on the fugitive leader.

In the latest raid on Friday night, soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division, 1st Brigade, swooped on a house in Tikrit and seized a man suspected of organizing guerrilla attacks.

"The individual that we were targeting tonight we believe is involved in organising attacks on US forces, in moving arms for these attacks, and also providing security for members of the regime," Lieutenant Colonel Steve Russell of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, told reporters at the scene.