Qusay, Uday Possibly Killed In Mosul Raid

CNN television quoted the unnamed official as saying that the government was "reasonably" certain that Uday and Qusay Hussein had "met their maker."

The Qatar-based channel said that U.S. troops withheld the four charred bodies of the killed Iraqis inside the house for D.N.A. tests.

The White House declined to comment on the reports, asserting that it would be up to the pentagon to comment on such issues.

The channel’s correspondent said up to 50 U.S. armored vehicles surrounded a house in the district, while U.S. troops arrested its owner, Sheikh Nawaaf Zidan, his wife and 19-year-old son.

He asserted that Sheikh Zidan, a chieftain of an Iraqi clan, declined to comment on reports Saddam’s son where inside his house.

The occupation forces also cordoned off the district and did not allow anyone in or out.

Lieutenant Colonel William Bishop of the 101st Airborne Division said that "individuals of very high interest to the coalition forces were hiding out in the building," the BBC News Online reported.

He said several of the "high-interest personalities" had been seized, while another senior officer told the agency four of them had been killed.

Al-Jazeera said that locals were offended by the excessive use of force by the U.S. troops, noting that up to 13 missiles were fired at the targeted house in a ferocious five-hour battle.

They further said that a group of Iraqis protested in "a spontaneous" rally at the U.S. violations, asserting that one protester was killed by U.S. troops.

Zafer al-Ani, an Iraqi political analyst, told Al-Jazeera said that the excessive use of force by U.S. troops demonstrated that Qusay and Uday were very much likely hiding out in Zidan’s house.

He said that the two might have resorted to Sheikh Zidan, noting that he might be a blood relative to Saddam.

Recently, the United States put a price of 15 million dollars on the heads of Saddam’s sons each.

Soldier Killed

In another development, One U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded when their vehicle came under attack by a rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire in an ambush on the road between Balad and Ramadi, 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Baghdad, Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted the U.S. Central Command as saying.

The soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment were evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital, Centcom said.

The attacks take to 42 the number of U.S. troops killed in action since an end to major combat operations in Iraq was declared on May 1, and to 153 troops killed in combat during the entire Iraq campaign, according to Al-Jazeera and an AFP accounts.

On Monday, July 21, three U.S. soldiers were killed and troops stationed at Ibn Firnas airport, north of Baghdad, came under a five-hour mortar attack from a group of the Iraqi resistance.