Odai, Qusai die in strike in Mosul, commander says
July 22 — Saddam Hussein’s fugitive sons Odai and Qusai were killed Tuesday during a raid on a mansion in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the commander of allied forces in Iraq said. Gunfire and explosions erupted in Baghdad as Iraqis celebrated the news.
Army Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of allied military operations in Iraq, said at a news conference Tuesday night in Baghdad that four Iraqis were killed in a fierce six-hour gunbattle that broke out when U.S. troops arrived to search the house, which reportedly belonged to a cousin of Saddam.
Without saying how, Sanchez said “multiple sources” had confirmed that the brothers were among the four dead people.
U.S. officials told NBC News separately on condition of anonymity that senior Iraqi figures in U.S. custody had positively identified the brothers after their bodies were taken to Baghdad. Old bullet wounds further cemented the identification of Odai Hussein, who was shot 17 times and badly wounded in an assassination attempt in 1996.
