¡¡¡¡BAGHDAD, Nov. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Situation remained tense but largely calm in the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad on Saturday, the widely-rumored "day of resistance."

¡¡¡¡In a letter distributed among Iraqis, the so-called National Leadership of Baath Party, which was swept from power by the US-led forces in April, threatened to renew anti-US attacks on Saturday or Sunday.

¡¡¡¡The letter also warned Iraqis not to go to such public places asstreets or schools in the coming days.

¡¡¡¡The two days coincide with the six-month anniversary of the end of major conflict in Iraq declared by US President George W. Bushon May 1.

¡¡¡¡US tanks cordoned all the major roads leading to Baghdad on Saturday morning, setting up checkpoints and carefully searching passing vehicles.

¡¡¡¡Cars were rare in the streets around 10:00 a.m. (0700 GMT), the peak time in working days, as most of the shops and schools were closed temporarily.

¡¡¡¡"Why don't they target the US occupation forces but schools?"asked Salma Mohammed Saleh, the graceful headmistress of Madam Nasifah school in western Baghdad.

¡¡¡¡She told Xinhua that many parents who brought their children to the morning classes went home after they were told that schools might become targets of the resistant attacks.Luckily for the citizens, the first day of resistance appeared to have passed without any fearful incidents, except that a few explosions were heard early in the day.

¡¡¡¡Around six to 10 blasts could be heard across western Baghdad,but scared people did not find anything that ensued. However, in the northern city of Mosul, a deadly explosive device killed two US soldiers and wounded two others on Saturday morning when the soldiers were driving pass a police station.The deaths brought to 120 the number of US soldiers killed by hostile fire in the six-month period.

¡¡¡¡At a press conference later Saturday, US civil administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer insisted that the call for resistance had failed to deter Iraqis from streets.

¡¡¡¡"My understanding there was a drop-off in schools, but there was no general strike," said Bremer, adding that business was still active and usual.

¡¡¡¡While confessing the enemies remained dangerous, Bremer pledgedto fight the former regime remnants and foreign terrorists to thefinal.

¡¡¡¡"We are not going to give up the fight on terrorism. Here in Iraq we are at the forefront of the war on terrorism and we are going to win it here," he said.

¡¡¡¡The administrator said the US forces believed Saddam Hussein was alive and hiding in Iraq.

¡¡¡¡"We believe that Saddam is alive. We believe he is in Iraq. Andhis capture or killing him is one of our top priorities," Bremertold reporters.

¡¡¡¡Asked if the former strongman was behind a number of anti-USattacks, he said "We still have no clear indication if Saddam himself is behind these attacks." Enditem