*EPF309 07/23/2003
Witnesses, Dental Records Confirm Deaths of Uday, Qusay Hussein
(Central Command Report, July 23: Iraq Operational Update) (930)

Washington -- Four former members of the now-defunct Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein and various dental and medical records helped identify the remains of Hussein's two sons, Uday and Qusay, after they were killed by U.S. 101st Airborne Division troopers in a four-hour fire fight in Mosul July 22, says Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).

At a briefing July 23 in Baghdad, Sanchez said that -- based on positive identification -- Qusay and Uday Hussein, who were numbers 2 and 3 on CENTCOM's Top 55 most wanted list, were killed by U.S. troopers along with two other Iraqis in a mansion on the northeastern edge of Mosul, which is northwest of Baghdad.

"We have confirmation that we've got Uday and Qusay Hussein, and we've got two other bodies" that have not yet been identified, Sanchez said.

Sanchez said the fact that Hussein's two sons could not be taken alive to stand trial for crimes against humanity should not be considered a failure on the part of the coalition. "Our mission is to find, kill or capture. In this case, we had an enemy that was defending, it was barricaded, and we had to take the measures that were necessary in order to neutralize the target," he said.

Qusay Hussein, 37, was a Special Republican Guard commander who controlled the Republican Guards, intelligence services and a special force providing security for his father, according to CENTCOM. Uday Hussein, 39, was commander of the Saddam Fedayeen militia, chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, and head of the Iraqi Football Association.

Four U.S. troopers were wounded but were quickly evacuated to a nearby medical facility for treatment, he said. Three have returned to duty and the fourth will return to duty shortly, he said.

Sanchez, who is commander of Coalition Ground Forces, said the identification was based on confirmation from four senior officials of Hussein's former regime, dental records and x-rays, and other medical information and x-rays. He said records and identification from former Hussein advisors proved 100 percent conclusive for Qusay, but only 90 percent for Uday, in part because of wounds to his face and teeth.

Sanchez said the U.S. Defense Department is working on a plan to prove to the Iraqi people that the two Hussein sons have been killed.

The major force involved in the attack on the Mosul mansion was an infantry company of the 101st Airborne Division, which was supported by OH-58D Kiowa attack helicopters, equipped with 2.75-inch rockets and machine guns, he said. The infantry company arrived in armored Humvees that carried TOW anti-tank missiles, Mark-19 machine grenade launchers and 50-caliber machine guns. Additionally, the Army had AH-64 Apache attack helicopters on standby if needed, as well as Air Force A-10 fighter-bomber jets, though these were not used in the attack, he said.

The Iraqi police established the outer cordon, Sanchez said. "They were also participating in coordination with our forces on the ground to complete the cordon," he explained.

Sanchez said an Iraqi citizen gave information the night of July 21 that Uday and Qusay Hussein might be in the house.

"Over the course of the night we planned our operation, and we had all the conditions set in order for us to initiate our assault by 1000 hours [local time] yesterday [July 22] morning," he said.

Sanchez said that when troops attempted to enter the residence they were met with gunshots. Attempts had been made to get the men inside the house to surrender using an interpreter with bullhorns, he said. The troops determined that the men in the house had barricaded themselves in a fortified position on the second floor, and that they used small arms fire from AK-47 assault rifles, he said.

As the gun battle continued and as U.S. troops prepared for a main assault on the house, Sanchez said, U.S. forces fired light anti-tank weapons and machine gun fire into the house to prepare the area for the assault. In addition, the ground commander at the site decided to bring in supporting fire from the Kiowa helicopters, he said. When a second attempt was made to enter the house, the troops were again met with gunfire from a heavily barricaded area on the second floor, he said.

At that point, Sanchez said the ground commander decided to fire 10 TOW anti-tank missiles into the house. He said officials believe it was the 10 TOW missiles that killed three of the men in the house. The fourth man was shot by U.S. troops as they made their way to the second floor area.

In other operations in Iraq July 23, Sanchez said U.S. forces in Baghdad captured former regime loyalist Barzan Abd Al-Ghafur Sulayman Majid Al-Tikrit, who is listed as number 11 on the Top 55 most wanted list and was the former commander of the Iraqi Special Republican Guard.

In addition, CENTCOM reported that one U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment soldier was killed, and a soldier and a contractor were wounded, when their convoy was attacked by an improvised explosive device on Highway 1 in Ar Ramadi. Also, a trooper in the 101st Airborne was killed and seven other troopers were wounded when an explosive device struck two military vehicles traveling on Highway 1 outside of Mosul, CENTCOM reported.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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