Four Iraqis killed in raid; two may be Saddam?s sons

[thedrifter]

July 22, 2003

Four Iraqis killed in raid; two may be Saddam?s sons

By Steven R. Hurst
Associated Press


BAGHDAD, Iraq ? Four Iraqis were killed in a U.S. raid Tuesday in northern Iraq against a suspected hideout of high-ranking members of Saddam Hussein?s regime. U.S. officials said they were investigating whether two of Saddam?s sons were among the dead.
The raid at a house in the northern city of Mosul sparked a shootout between members of the 101st Airborne Division and gunmen holed up inside the compound, which later burned to the ground, officials said.

The identities of the dead were not certain, said one official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. But officials said they were trying to determine whether Saddam?s elder sons, Uday and Qusai, were among the dead.

Both were below only Saddam in importance in the regime, officials have said.

The house belonged to a cousin of Saddam who was a key tribal leader in the region. Mosul residents said the American soldiers were looking for Uday and Qusai but Pentagon officials said they could not confirm that.

The United States has offered a $25 million bounty and $15 million for each of his sons, who were also top leaders in their father?s regime.

The United States has offered a $25 million reward for information leading to Saddam?s capture and $15 million for the sons.

Also Tuesday a soldier was killed and another wounded in an ambush along a dangerous road north of Baghdad in the ?Sunni Triangle,? the U.S. military reported.

The soldier?s death brought to 153 the number of U.S. troops killed in action since the March 20 start of war ? six more than during the 1991 Gulf War.

The U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., said the attackers used rocket-propelled grenades and small arms in the assault staged along the road between Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, and Ramadi, 60 miles west of the capital.

Both towns lie within the ?Sunni Triangle,? so named because it is home to much of the remaining support for ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim who used his Baathist Party to oppress the country?s Shiite Muslim majority.

The military had no other details on the attack, many of which lately have been staged with remote-controlled roadside explosions. The military has not released figures on the number of attacks on American forces each day, but a senior officer told reporters last week that the attacks were averaging 12 a day.

Also Tuesday, seeking to ease fears among exporters to Iraq, the U.S. occupation administration announced it was setting up a trading bank to guarantee payment for imported goods and services, especially food and materials needed in reconstruction.

The U.S. administration said it established the bank ?to bolster confidence between trading partners that funds will be received in exchange for goods delivered.?

Outside firms have been hesitant to do business with Iraq, which had been under stiff U.N. economic sanctions since invading Kuwait in 1990, out of worries about being paid.

The new Trade Bank of Iraq, the coalition civilian administration said, will have a pool of $100 million to draw from, with an initial capitalization of $5 million. The bank president will be the finance minister once one is named by the Iraqi Governing Council, hand-picked by L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian authority in the country.

The money to support the bank comes from the $1.2 billion Development Fund for Iraq set up by the United States with United Nations approval of the American occupation plan.

It is hoped the new bank will expedite the purchase of materials needed for rebuilding Iraq, including power generators, sewage pipes and oil field equipment.






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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.


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