Saddam's sons betrayed for $52 million

MOSUL - The man who told United States troops the whereabouts of two of Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay, is under protection, the US military said last night.

He is believed to have been paid the $US15 million($26.36 million) bounty offered for each son by the head of US operations in Iraq, Paul Bremer.

"He is in US custody. We're protecting him," said Colonel Joe Anderson, of the 101 Airborne Division.

"But I'm not telling you who the source is."

However evidence from several sources points to the informant as being Nawaf al-Zaidan, a cousin of Saddam Hussein and the man who had been harbouring the brothers in his palatial Mosul home for about three weeks with Qusay's teenaged son, Mustafa, and bodyguard Abdul Samad.

nte The US ground commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, announced the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein earlier yesterday.

All the US Army will say is that the tip about the whereabouts of Uday and Qusay Hussein - long feared for their brutal roles in Saddam's dictatorship - came from a "walk-in" informer.

The brothers were killed after about 200 troops from the 101st Airborne Division launched an assault after ordering the occupants to leave.

Witnesses spoke of a prolonged exchange of fire.

"I heard the sound of bombing in the neighbourhood, with huge numbers of American troops closing the area," said Yahya Khan.

"A few seconds later, the helicopters came, and a heavy gun was shooting and bombing started.

"The ruins of the house were still burning when I went up to the roof. One man said four Americans have been killed."

A witness said US helicopters were called in after men in the house shot at American soldiers with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

"There were gunshots from inside the house," said the witness.

"The gunshots were coming from the people inside the house and the Americans were outside for half an hour." said the witness, who didn't give his name. "The people in the house fired an RPG-7 and then Americans called helicopters, which attacked the house."

A similar account was given at the Pentagon in Washington.

A senior US Defence official said that when US troops entered the home's ground floor, they almost immediately came under fire from the four people holed up in on the second floor. , a senior US defence official said in Washington.

The home's second floor had been hardened against attack with bulletproof glass.

The US soldiers then called in an attack helicopter, which fired several missiles into the building, the official said.

Estimates of how long the battle raged varied from three to six hours.

At least 1000 people gathered outside after the attack - some shouting in delight, others cursing in anger.

The bodies thought to be those of Uday and Qusay were taken to Baghdad's international airport to be flown out of the country.

US officials would not say where they were being taken.

President George W. Bush welcomed the deaths as "positive news", calling the brothers "leaders of a brutal regime".

In Baghdad, Iraqis marked the news of the brothers' deaths with celebratory gunfire shooting wildly into the night sky.

In the midst of the confusion, a US soldier mistakenly shot a man and a girl aged about six.

They came upon the man as he was shooting his gun in jubilation and fired at him, thinking they were under attack.

- STAFF REPORTER, INDEPENDENT, AGENCIES

Herald Feature: Iraq