MOSUL/WASHINGTON, 23 July 2003 — Uday and Qusay, the two sons of Saddam Hussein, were killed yesterday in a major US military raid in northern Iraq, US Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said in Baghdad, in a major coup for coalition forces pursuing the family of the toppled Iraqi ruler and his loyalists.
They were killed in a raid on a building in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, he said at a televised news conference.
“Four persons were killed during that operation and were removed from the building and we have since confirmed that Uday and Qusay Hussein are among the dead,” said Sanchez, commander of US ground forces in Iraq.
Witnesses said US helicopter gunships fired more than 20 missiles during a six-hour battle, demolishing the house.
“They resisted the efforts of the coalition to apprehend them, they were killed,” Sanchez said.
He said positive identification of the bodies had been made from multiple sources.
Earlier, military sources said DNA samples of the bodies were being flown to Washington for matching with specimens on file from undisclosed sources.
Sanchez said four US soldiers were also wounded during the operation.
The owner of the house in the city of Mosul, Nawaf Al-Zaidan, “is believed to have informed US forces that Saddam’s sons Uday and Qusay, Qusay’s son, and a bodyguard named Abdul Samad took refuge in his house and he wanted to get rid of them”, said a female relative of Zaidan who asked not to be named.
The relative and other residents of the area said US helicopter gunships fired at the house after clashes broke out when US forces tried to go in to arrest those inside.
Four charred bodies, later confirmed as including those of Qusay, the “ace of clubs” on the US “most wanted list” of the former Iraqi regime, and Uday, the “ace of hearts”, were taken out of the house, relatives of Zaidan said.
A resident in Mosul said a six-hour firefight broke out at the house at 10 a.m. (0600 GMT). “Helicopters participated in the raid and they fired several missiles into the house,” a resident said.
Other witnesses said Zaidan, a sheikh of the Bu Issa tribe, and his son were arrested at the end of the battle which wrecked the house and neighboring buildings.
The United States earlier this month announced a reward of $15 million for information leading to the capture or death of the Hussein sons, while a 25-million-dollar reward was offered for Saddam, whose fate has been unknown since he was toppled by US-British forces in April.
The sons’ deaths mark the biggest victory in the US-led coalition’s hunt for Saddam, his family and former regime loyalists since the war was declared over May 1. Even before the deaths were confirmed, the Iraqi capital erupted in an explosion of celebratory gunfire.
Meanwhile, US Central Command said the latest death of a US soldier came in an ambush at around 9:00 a.m. yesterday on the road between Balad and Ramadi.
Hours ahead of the deadly attack in Mosul, attention had shifted yesterday to the United Nations, where members of Iraq’s 25-strong governing council were seeking to win credibility and aid for rebuilding.
With UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urging an early end to the military occupation of Iraq, the council presented yesterday its postwar vision to the Council and asked for its aid.
— With input from Agencies
