Four US soldiers killed in Iraqi raids

A grenade attack killed three US soldiers and wounded four as they guarded a children’s hospital northeast of Baghdad.

The attacks yesterday further scuttling hopes that a widespread guerrilla insurgency might lose strength after the deaths of Saddam Hussein’s elder sons.

Another US soldier died and two others were wounded later in the afternoon when their convoy was attacked west of Baghdad near the Abu Ghraib prison.

In Mosul, engineers with the 101st Airborne Division tore down the badly damaged villa where Uday and Qusay Hussein were killed Tuesday in a four-hour gunbattle with U.S. forces.

The home belonged to Sheik Nawaf al-Zaydan Muhhamad, a regional tribal leader and cousin of Saddam who neighbours said tipped-off American troops that the Hussein brothers were at his house.

The US occupation administration had offered $15m (€13m) each for information leading to Saddam’s wanted sons and $25m (€21m) for Saddam. It was believed, although not confirmed by occupation military commanders, that Muhhamad was in protective custody.

Since the killings of the sons, the US military said more Iraqi informants have been coming forward with tips. And with the arrest Friday of some of Saddam’s bodyguards in Tikrit, his hometown and powerbase, American forces say they are closing in on the deposed dictator.

The soldiers killed outside the hospital Saturday morning were part of the 4th Infantry Division, which came under grenade attack in Baqouba, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad. Witnesses told an Associated Press photographer that the soldiers were guarding the hospital because some of their wounded comrades were being treated there.

Maj. William Thurmond, a coalition military spokesman, said three of the injured soldiers were treated and returned to their unit, the fourth was evacuated to a military hospital.

In the second attack, about two hours later, an engineer unit attached to the 3rd Infantry Division was attacked with small arms and rocket propelled grenades, the US military said. Two soldiers were evacuated to a combat hospital, where one died. A third was treated at the scene and returned to duty.

The deaths brought to 162 the number of troops killed in action since the start of the war, 15 more than in the 1991 Gulf War. The guerrilla attacks on American forces have averaged 12 a day, according to the military.

In Baghdad, the commander of Iraq’s national police academy was wounded while leading a raid against suspected hijackers, police told AP.

Brig. Ahmed Kadhim, 56, was shot in the leg around 1am. while police were trying to arrest five suspected carjackers, said his assistant, Capt. Mushtak Fadhil. Five other police were wounded, one critically, and five men were arrested.

The violence came as Iraqi civilians continued to debate the authenticity of video images of the bodies of Uday, 39, and Qusay, 37.

The video was shot by journalists who viewed the autopsied bodies Friday, part of a US military effort to convince Iraqi people that the brothers – two of the most feared men in the ousted regime, second only to Saddam – were really dead.

The video appeared to have been more believable than still photographs published Thursday of the brothers shortly after being killed. The photos showed only their heads and shoulders, their faces obscured by heavy beards, blood and gashes the video showed the entire bodies, the faces shaved and reconstructed to appear lifelike.

“When I saw them on TV, I was sorry. I hoped that they hadn’t died too quickly,” said Yassir Hussain, 45, a day laborer. “Odai took my innocent cousin to prison in 1984. Since then we haven’t heard anything about him.”

Others said they looked forward to seeing the body of Saddam.

“We were very happy to see their dead bodies on TV, and by the will of God we will see their father’s corpse on TV soon,” said Halla Karim Numan, a 35-year-old homemaker.

The display appeared to be a calculated gamble by coalition authorities, who may have produced more convincing evidence but also offended Muslims in Iraq and elsewhere by altering the bodies and delaying burial.

Baghdad erupted in celebratory gunfire after news of the brothers’ death was reported. The Al-Mutamar newspaper reported Saturday that the bullets falling to the ground killed 31 Iraqis and injured 76 others, though the report could not be confirmed.