$30 million OKd for tip that led to Odai, Qusai Two GIs killed in Iraq; Saddam daughters turn up in Jordan

payment Thursday to the informant who led U.S. troops to SaddamHussein's two sons, while two of the ousted dictator's daughters tookrefuge in Jordan in a sign of further pressure on remnants of thedefeated regime.

Two more U.S. soldiers were killed by insurgents, meanwhile,bringing to 51 the number of Americans to die in combat since May 1,when President Bush declared major combat over.

Secretary of State Colin Powell decided that the informant whosetip led to the deaths of Odai and Qusai Hussein in a firefight July22in a villa in Mosul should get both of the $15 million rewards thathad been put on the men's heads.

"It's actually for services rendered," State Department spokesmanRichard Boucher said in Washington. "It's a lump sum payment of $30million."

For his protection, the informant has not been identified,although people in Mosul have speculated it was the owner of thehouse being used as a hideout.

The U.S. military commander for Iraq said he had nothingsignificant to report about the hunt for Iraq's most wanted man. Butsome U.S. officers said the daughters' flight to Jordan was anothersign that intensified sweeps are squeezing Saddam and other membersof the defeated regime.

"It would seem to confirm that his family is on the move, alongwith his closest associates," said Lt. Col. Steve Russell, whocommands Army troops patrolling Saddam's hometown of Tikrit. "It'sgood news. Even if it's estranged or extended family, it showsthey're on the move."

Saddam's daughters Raghad and Rana arrived in Jordan on Thursdaywith their nine children, Jordanian Information Minister Nabil al-Sharif said. He would not say where they were in the capital, Amman,or where they came from, but he said King Abdullah II decided tooffer them refuge.

"They are Arab women who have run out of all options," al-Sharifsaid.

The whereabouts of Saddam's wife Sajida Khairallah Telfah and hisyoungest daughter, Hala, were unknown.

Raghad and Rana, whose father ordered their husbands executed in1996, were long estranged from Saddam but were believed to havereconciled with him. Both lived out of the limelight and neither waslinked to the atrocities blamed on their father and brothers.

AP