Uday Hussein was shown on Iraqi state television on Monday in a brief appearance. The television showed Saddam meeting Uday, his younger brother Qusay and military commanders.

It was the first time Uday, commander of the Fedayeen Saddam forces, was shown on television since a U.S. air attack on Saddam's headquarters in Baghdad on March 20. Saddam and his sons were said to have been in the building during the bombing.

U.S. officials report an increase in rocket and other attacks against coalition forces and vehicles over the last 10 days. So far, two Americans were killed and another was injured.

"It's small, but there has been an increase," U.S. Army Col. Roger King, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-180, said.

On Saturday, two U.S. military personnel were killed in an ambush by Afghan insurgents. The insurgents were said to have fired small arms, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at the coalition vehicles.

The following day, a coalition base near Shkin was struck by 12 mortars. Nobody was hurt. Later that day, two rockets were fired at the coalition base near Gardez and a single rocket landed northwest of the Kabul Military Training Area. There was no damage to either base and no casualties.

Officials said U.S. Army and Marine Corps units reached the southern edge of the Iraqi capital on late Sunday. They said the units were conducting what they termed probing missions to determine the extent of Iraqi defense around the city.

The forces are expected to be reinforced over the next few days as the U.S. Air Force reduces the strength of the Iraqi Republican Guard. Saddam's elite forces have come under heavy bombing south of Baghdad.

Iraqi opposition sources said Arab members of Al Qaida have been deployed in the region of Najaf and Karbala. The two cities, populated by Shi'ites, have exhibited the most stubborn resistance to advancing U.S. troops.

The London-based Iraqi National Congress said Al Qaida has sent volunteers from a range of Arab countries to join Republican Guard units in Najaf and Karbala. The INC said the deployment stemmed from an agreement between Saddam and Al Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden that Islamic insurgency forces would be allowed to take over the area if they defend it against coalition forces.