Replies

The Title was "Saddam's Sons Killed" but I thought that was a stretch...

Saddam Hussein's two sons Uday and Qusay may have been killed in a shoot-out in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

A US official says two bodies recovered from a villa raided by US troops bear a strong resemblance to the pair and DNA tests are being carried out.

The White House stressed it could not confirm the deaths but Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had briefed President George Bush on the situation.

Battle

America's Fox News quoted one official as saying the administration was "90-95%" sure the bodies were of Saddam's sons.

Another official said there was a "pretty decent chance" they were inside the building, which is owned by a cousin of Saddam.

Relatives of the man and a local official said they believed Uday and Qusay died in the operation.

US forces said they had stormed a house in Mosul and killed four high-ranking allies of the former Iraqi dictator.

Some 200 soldiers blasted the villa with machineguns and rockets during a four-hour battle before storming the building.

Officers declined to identify the four bodies brought out or comment on local rumours Saddam's sons might have been present.

They said a number of people were arrested after the shoot-out. Eyewitnesses said they included a local tribal leader and his son.

Saddam's oldest son Uday

One general from the 101st Airbourne Division told Fox News it had received intelligence on Monday night suggesting members of the regime were sheltering in the house and launched the operation.

That intelligence may have come from a local Iraqi.

'High value targets'

"We received direct direct fire from the building multiple times and used escalating force," he said.

"We could not breach into the building. We had to use bigger calibre weapons to render building safe."

Lieutenant Colonel William Bishop, of the 101st Airborne Division, said: "This morning we went to the building and surrounded it, and detained several high-interest personalities."

Major Trey Cate, spokesman for the division, said four "high-value targets" were found dead after the battle.

A fifth Iraqi died in the fighting and at least five were hurt.

US forces have so far captured 34 of the 55 Iraqis on a most-wanted list of members of Saddam's regime.

But the ousted Iraqi leader and his sons remain at large. They are believed to be in Iraq still.

Washington has offered a $25m reward for the capture of Saddam and $15m for Uday and Qusay.

Audio tapes said to have been made by Saddam have been given to Arab television networks, urging Iraqis to fight occupying Coalition troops.