Saddam's sons slain in gun battle

10.00am - By KIM SENGUPTA

UDPATE - Uday and Qusay, the sons of Saddam Hussein, were killed when American forces attacked a house in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul.

Their bodies were recovered from the charred and smoking building after a four-hour firefight on Tuesday. US military officials confirmed that Uday, 39, and Qusay, 37, were among at least four people who are believed to have died in the carefully planned attack. Qusay's 14-year-old son and Uday's bodyguard were reported as being the other victims. It is thought the bodies were immediately flown out of the area.

Gunfire erupted across Baghdad last night, apparently in celebration as the news of their deaths quickly spread.

US President George Bush was briefed about the secret operation by the Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Local people told reporters that Uday and Qusay were rumoured to have been staying at the house, a villa owned by Mohamed el-Zidani, a tribal ally of the Hussein clan. There was no suggestion that Saddam himself was present.

The American troops used helicopter gunships, rocket propelled grenades, mortars and machine guns before storming the building. Major Trey Cate, of the 101st Airborne Division, said five Iraqis had been killed, including four "high-value individuals", and five injured. One US soldier was injured.

The death of the brothers would be seen as the biggest boost to America and Britain since the overthrow of the regime three months ago. Since then, the allies have been experiencing increasingly bitter guerrilla resistance to occupation with US losses mounting by the day to more than the total for the 1991 Gulf War.

The assault on the columned villa of concrete, with a large garden, followed information from an Iraqi informer, according to the US military. Washington had offered a bounty of $15 million ($26.36 million) each for the two brothers and $25m for Saddam. The source should be eligible for the cash. It is thought she may have been a female relative of the villa's owner.

Uday Hussein was the most high profile and notorious member of the Iraqi ruling elite after his father. But even his father saw him as too loose a canon, and it was his younger brother, Qusay, who was seen as the heir apparent.

Around 200 special forces troops from Task Force 20, supported by 101st Airborne Division took part in the mission after the house had been watched for several days.

Witnesses spoke of a prolonged exchange of fire. Yahya Khan said: "I heard sound of bombing in the neighbourhood, with huge numbers of American troops closing the area. A few seconds later, the helicopters came, and a heavy gun shooting and bombing started. They were hitting the house of Nawwaf Al-Zaydan, who was the head of Saddam's secret guards. The ruins of the house were still burning when I went up to the roof. One man said four Americans have been killed".

The US and British forces had twice previously tried to kill Saddam and his two sons. The first attempt came on March 20, just before the war started. It was targeted against a presidential palace in Baghdad where the family were believed to have been staying.

Just days before American forces entered the Iraqi capital, 16 civilians were killed when US missiles were fired at the Mansur district. Saddam was supposed to have been holding a meeting with the sons and members of his military high command there.

Mosul, northwest of Baghdad, is outside the so-called "Sunni Triangle" in central Iraq - home to much of the remaining support for Saddam. The city has a large Kurdish population, and the Kurdish militias, KDP and PUK, have maintained a presence.

However, Mosul has also been the scene of anti-American protests, and 18 demonstrators were shot dead in the city in the days after US forces moved in. The region has also provided a significant number of members in the Baath party hierarchy over the years.

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

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