The United States will provide proof to the public that Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay were killed in a gunbattle at the Iraqi city of Mosul, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said Wednesday.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez told a news conference that dental records, X-rays and four former senior figures from the Saddam regime helped establish certainty that the two sons were killed in the four-hour gunbattle, AP reported.
Sanchez said that the US Army would provide proof "in due time" to the Iraqi people that Uday and Qusay were dead.
Earlier, it was reported that the U.S. military was considering publishing photographs of the bodies, CNN reported. Pentagon officials were quoted as saying that pictures of the bodies, which were badly shot up, show Saddam's sons and are clearly recognizable.
Sanchez also announced that the head of the Special Republican Guard, Barzan Abd al-Ghafur Sulayman Majid al-Tikriti, was captured. According to him, al-Tikriti was detained on Wednesday.
Sanchez said U.S. forces would continue to search for other fugitive members of the former regime, including its leader.
"The ultimate objective is Saddam Hussein. We maintain the focus on all the high-value targets and we will not fail," he said. "The Saddam Hussein regime will never come back into power. We will ensure the freedom of the Iraqi people." (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
