Posted on 04/08/2003 6:02:44 PM PDT by blam
Bombings 'fail to kill' Saddam
By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent and Neil Tweedie in Qatar
(Filed: 09/04/2003)
America pulverised a Baghdad restaurant in a second attempt to kill Saddam Hussein, but intelligence sources suggested yesterday that the Iraqi leader had escaped.
A Royal Marine stands in front of a mural of Saddam Hussein in Basra
The restaurant in the Mansur district of the capital was destroyed by four 2,000lb smart bombs dropped by a single US aircraft early yesterday.
The Pentagon would only confirm publicly that it had hit a "leadership target" in the district, a Ba'ath Party stronghold. Privately, one official said: "If Saddam did not slip out, then he is dead."
The attack left a crater 50 yards wide where the restaurant had been. Local people said up to 14 people were believed to have died, but indications yesterday led the allies to believe that the Iraqi dictator had eluded them for a second time in the war.
The attack was followed by a day of ferocious fighting in Baghdad in which at least seven US troops were killed.
The Americans said last night they were pushing from three directions to extend their control of the capital. Tanks from the US 3rd Infantry also advanced across a bridge over the Tigris to attack Iraqis on the east bank.
Three journalists died in two separate US attacks, on the Hotel Palestine, in which most of the foreign journalists are based, and the offices of the al-Jazeera Arabic satellite television station.
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