One US Army soldier was killed and another was injured Tuesday when attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at American troops in Baghdad, Central Command said.

The soldiers were attacked at a collection point for illegal weapons in the southwestern part of the Iraqi capital, Central Command said in a statement. Names of the soldiers, who were from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, were withheld Tuesday until their relatives could be notified.

The attack began when a van with four people inside stopped in an alley about 250 yards from the American troops, the Central Command statement said. Two people got out of the van, and each fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the Americans. One grenade fell short of the Americans and another struck a US vehicle, the statement said.

American forces searched the area for the attackers, but the statement did not say whether any suspects were found.

The weapons collection point was part of a US program to try to rid the country of the thousands of heavy weapons in Iraqi hands. American officials have banned Iraqis from having anything but light weapons, ordering citizens to turn them in to US forces or Iraqi police by Saturday or face up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Dozens of American troops have been killed in recent weeks during an escalation of armed skirmishes with Iraqis. Pentagon officials say at least some of the attacks appear to be part of a coordinated campaign against the US troops occupying Iraq.

The leader of an Iraq exile group said Tuesday that Saddam Hussein has been seen north of Baghdad and is paying a bounty for every American soldier killed.

Saddam has $1.3 billion in cash taken from the Central Bank on March 18, is bent on revenge and believes he can "sit it out and get the Americans going," said Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress.

"Now, he's put a price on American soldiers. He will pay bounty for every American soldier killed in Iraq now. This has been spread around in the western part of the country," Chalabi told the Council on Foreign Relations.

In Washington, Pentagon officials said Tuesday they had no information that Saddam was alive and offering bounties for killing US troops.

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