US forces captured a bodyguard and two associates of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein following raids in Tikrit on Tuesday, CNN quoted an American military official as saying.

"The primary target was achieved," Lieutenant Colonel Steve Russell of the 4th Infantry Division said. "This man was a close associate of Saddam Hussein."

He said all the people targeted in the raids were captured.

"Saddam's close associates seem to be very desperate," he said.

Tikrit, the former Iraqi president's ancestral hometown, has been the site of consistent raids since the weekend, following the deaths last week of Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay in Mosul.

Armoured vehicles and helicopter gunships had participated in Tuesday's raids.

CNN quoted US military officials as saying that the bodyguard did not give up without a struggle and received blows to the head. Blood was seeping through a head covering, according to the channel.

It said US soldiers carted off large boxes of documents and pictures from the bodyguard's home.