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A firefight erupted when U.S. forces surrounded the home of a cousin of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday, killing four people. A senior U.S. official in Iraq (news - web sites) said Saddam's sons Odai and Qusai were believed to be among the dead.
But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said investigators were "awaiting postive DNA testing" to confirm the identities.
An official with the U.S. civilian administration running Iraq said "something big has just happened" but would provide no futher information.
Members of the 101st Airborne Division had surrounded the house, which belongs to a cousin of Saddam — a key tribal leader in the region — when the fighting broke out in Mosul, 280 miles north of Baghdad.
The stone, columned house was left charred and smoldering, its high facade riddled with gaping holes from bullets and heavy weaponry. Kiowa helicopters roamed the sky.
Some local residents appeared to have been caught in the crossfire. It was not known how many people were injured, but several were taken to a hospital.
In Washington, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld briefed President Bush (news - web sites) about the raid in an Oval Office meeting Tuesday morning, a senior administration official said.
Well, I can't but think that's relatively good news.