Marines pushed into Saddam Hussein's ancestral home Monday to fight what could be the last major battle as the rescue of seven U.S. prisoners sent spirits soaring back home. Iraq's cities seemed somewhat calmer, but the persistent lack of law and order served as a reminder that the country is far from secure.

U.S. forces found pockets of enemy fighters as they worked to secure Tikrit on Monday, and many pieces of military equipment recently abandoned by Republican Guards, said Central Command Capt. Frank Thorp. He said fighting on the ground was fierce, but he predicted U.S. forces would soon capture the town.

''The outcome is not in doubt,'' he said. He had no information on casualties or any reported surrender negotiations.

''We have had engagements, and we have defeated the enemy in every one of those engagements,'' Thorp said.

Marines were also working to secure the town of Samarra, about 30 miles to the south, where seven American POWs were rescued Sunday. Bedraggled but in good condition after three weeks in captivity, they said they had been shuffled from one jailer to the next as the regime crumbled, until finally their location was disclosed to Marines advancing north from Baghdad.

''We were a hot potato,'' said Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson, 30, of Fort Bliss, Texas, who had been shot through both her feet by a single bullet. ''It was getting to the point where I believed they were going to kill us.''

The POWs -- five members of the 507th Maintenance Company convoy ambushed March 23 and two Apache helicopter crewmen seized a day later -- were shown on Iraqi state television shortly after their capture, but had not been heard from since.

As they were flown to Kuwait for a medical checkup and a debriefing, they told reporters for The Washington Post and The Miami Herald that they were kicked and beaten at the time of their capture, and then taunted and interrogated. They were regularly fed and given medical treatment and they did not complain of torture.

The Pentagon lists four other Americans as missing in action.

U.S. forces were working with local authorities to restore order to Iraq's cities after several days of lawlessness. Traffic police were recalled to patrol neighborhoods alongside British troops in the southern port of Basra. Iraqis have also started accompanying U.S. troops on joint patrols in Baghdad, Thorpe said.

Looting in the capital city seemed to be easing as Marines took sporadic but tough new measures to stop it. Several hundred Iraqi police officers volunteered to take part in joint patrols Monday in response to calls on a coalition-run Arabic language radio station and Arab satellite TV. Iraqis have also launched neighborhood watch programs and civilian leaders are emerging to help maintain order, Thorpe said.

Marines fanning through Baghdad's neighborhoods have found large caches of weapons and ammunition, including about 80 Frog-7 missiles discovered in large yellow trucks Monday, Capt. Daniel Schmitt said.

They also found Russian-made anti-tank rocket launchers and French-made Roland missiles, Schmitt said.

A crowd in Najaf surrounded the home of Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric for some time, demanding he and other religious leaders leave the country. Bitter rivalries among Shiite factions in the holy city, some 100 miles south of Baghdad, have sparked several incidents.

The cleric, Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ali al-Sistani, said in a statement on his official Web site that the ''lives of the great religious authorities in Najaf are threatened.'' He also said the U.S.-led coalition forces ''bear the responsibility'' to prevent such threats. Tribal leaders intervened and cooled the situation.

In the northern oil center of Kirkuk, Human Rights Watch was investigating claims that a group of Kurdish men shot and killed an Iraqi Turkoman boy. An ethnic minority with strong ties to neighboring Turkey, the Iraqi Turkomans say Kurdish fighters have trampled on their rights since they took part in the coalition's northern campaign.

U.S. military personnel met with tribesmen, political and religious leaders Sunday to discuss ways to restore law and order in Kirkuk.

''The Americans only came here to protect the oil installations. They've done nothing else,'' Najdat Saleh complained. ''They have done nothing to establish law and order in the city.''