ATLANTA -- Saddam Hussein's capture made one thing clear: The deposed dictator, found dirty, disheveled and disoriented, likely was not masterminding Iraq's guerrilla war.

Saddam not only lacked the sophisticated communications equipment needed to direct a force of insurgents. He didn't even have a telephone.

That likely means the guerrilla war in Iraq, which has claimed the lives of roughly 300 U.S. soldiers since Baghdad fell April 9, is far from over, U.S. officials and Middle East experts said Sunday.

U.S. officials punctuated their remarks with warnings that violence directed against American soldiers would not necessarily cease with Saddam's capture, even though hopes of pacifying Iraq had previously rested on catching Saddam.

Just hours before the announcement of Saddam's arrest, a massive blast at a police station in a town west of Baghdad killed at least 17 Iraqis and injured 33.

''We do not expect at this point in time that we will have a complete elimination of those attacks," Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of the U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq, said in Baghdad. ''I believe that those will continue for some time. But with the cooperation of all of the Iraqi people and our coalition, I believe that we are now much closer to a safe and secure environment."

U.S. officials said Saddam's interrogators would focus first on the former president's ties to the guerrilla war and press him for information on future attacks and locations of guerrilla leaders.

But Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division troops who captured Saddam, acknowledged that his soldiers found no telephones, radios or other communications devices in Saddam's farmhouse hideout in the village of Adwar.

The circumstances and location of Saddam's capture made it clear that the deposed dictator had ''very little control or influence" over the recent chaos in Iraq, said Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

''That is significant and disturbing because it means the insurgents are not fighting for Saddam. They're fighting against the United States," Rockefeller said.

In the short run, Middle East experts said, Sunday's events could fuel increased anti-American violence as remnants of Saddam's loyalists strike back to avenge the humiliating seizure of their leader.

''Obviously this is going to make them furious. They are probably going to try and pull off additional attacks," said Sandra Mackey, journalist and author of ''The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein."

Four U.S. soldiers were injured Sunday in two separate attacks in Kuwait, according to a U.S. military spokesman, but investigators said it was not clear whether the shootings were related to Saddam.

In the long run, Mackey said Saddam's capture could mark the beginning of the end of insurgents motivated strictly by loyalty to the former Iraqi dictator. But removing Saddam won't quell unrest by fighters motivated by reasons other than loyalty to Saddam, she said. They include Sunni Muslims who feel threatened of being shut out of a new government, Iraqis who are vehemently opposed to foreign -- especially American -- occupation and foreign fighters from Syria and Iran.

Mackey said Saddam's capture will certainly blow the lid off Iraqi politics as well as create potential for further violence.

Groups that had a vested interest in U.S. forces remaining in Iraq to prevent Saddam's return will no longer feel an American presence is needed. Tensions between ethnic groups, tribes and political factions could start surfacing, the longtime observer of Iraq said.

''You could have various groups in Iraq going at each other, which will also be a chaotic situation," she said.

''We should take time to rejoice in the moment, but don't kid yourself that Saddam's capture is going to bring an end to the challenges to the United States," Mackey added. ''There (were) always two problems there. One was Saddam Hussein. The other is Iraq itself."

Saddam was one of the world's most-wanted fugitives, along with al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, whose whereabouts remain unknown despite a manhunt since November 2000.

While Saddam's capture might have given the Bush administration a psychological victory, it probably did little to blunt the forces of anti-American terrorism worldwide, experts said.

''Capturing Saddam Hussein is a hugely significant event with enormous consequences (in every realm) except terrorism," said Gideon Rose, managing editor of Foreign Affairs magazine. ''Very few people believe there was any connection between Saddam and terrorism."

For all his tyrannical ways, Saddam was not a great supporter of global terrorism, said Jean-Robert Leguey-Feilleux, who has taught international terrorism at St. Louis University for 30 years.

The Bush administration alleged links between Baghdad and al-Qaida, but the ties were never proved, Leguey-Feilleux said.

Saddam lacked the kind of hold over people that bin Laden has demonstrated in part because he represented no clear-cut ideology, Leguey-Feilleux said. Saddam's influence stemmed mainly from the exercise of brutal state power.

''Bin Laden is sincere and dedicated to his cause," Leguey-Feilleux said. ''His movement is global. Al-Qaida will continue longer after bin Laden is gone. Saddam was just a cruel tyrant who glorified himself."

But officials in Afghanistan nevertheless hoped seizing Saddam might help curb the insurgency in that country.

''Whoever tends toward extremism might now think twice about it," said German Lt. Gen. Goetz Gliemeroth, commander of an international peacekeeping force in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Pakistani military analyst Talat Masood, a close observer of Afghanistan, said the news of Saddam's capture would reverberate through the mountain hideouts of bin Laden and the Taliban.

''There is a psychological synergy between resistance in Iraq and Afghanistan, so if there is any setback in Iraq, it will have a ripple effect in Afghanistan," Masood said.

Moni Basu writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. E-mail: mbasu(at)ajc.com. Information from news services was used to compile this report.

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