Bush lauches war with bid to kill Saddam

War started in Iraq early today with a bold attempt to assassinate Saddam Hussein with cruise missiles and precision guided bombs.

Carefully laid assault plans were reportedly torn up after the CIA told US President George Bush that it knew the Iraqi dictator was consulting with top officials at a house in south Baghdad.

But the Iraqi dictator appeared to have evaded the strike, appearing on TV about three hours later to denounce the “evil invaders”.

Kuwaiti officials said Iraq then fired two three-tonne missiles at the border area, but said they were not armed with non-conventional warheads and had caused no casualties or damage.

Investigators at the border – where thousands of US and British troops are poised to strike against Saddam’s regime – were studying whether the Iraqi rockets were downed by the Patriot missile defence system.

Journalists at Camp Coyote – home to many of the British soldiers – reported hearing a thunderous explosion shortly before 7.40am Irish time.

One said it came with such force that the after-shock set tent canvases trembling.

PA News chief reporter Vanessa Allen, who was at the camp, said: “No alarm followed the explosion and it was initially assumed it was simply heavy-duty artillery fire from the nearby ranges.

“Moments later the vehicle horns started – one second on, one second off - the clearest possible alert that the camp could be under attack.”

At this signal – and the news from medics that it was “for real”, not a drill – soldiers and journalists donned the protective gear used in chemical attack until the all-clear was sounded a few minutes later.

In Baghdad, Saddam used his TV appearance to accuse Washington of a “shameful crime,” and urged his people to fight back against the invaders.

“Draw your sword and be not afraid,” Saddam urged the Iraqi people, before offering appeals to Islam and to the Arab-Israeli struggle: “Allahu akbar” - God is great – he said. “Long live jihad and long live Palestine!”

Senior Iraqi official Odai al-Ta’ai said several people had been injured in US raids in the al-Doura district of south Baghdad. No further information was immediately available.

Less than two hours after Bush’s deadline for Saddam and his sons to go into exile or face war, the US military targeted Iraqi leaders in what the US president called the opening salvo in an operation to “disarm Iraq and to free its people”.