US releases photos of bodies of Saddam's sons

The US military today released pictures showing the bodies of Uday and Qusay Hussein, the sons of Saddam Hussein, two days after they were killed in a fierce firefight at a villa in the northern city of Mosul.

One of the photos shows Uday with a thick beard and with severe facial wounds. Qusay's face was less severely damaged. but was heavily bruised. Both men were bearded.

The military has said the brothers and a third man, believed to have been a bodyguard, were killed by US TOW missiles fired into the villa where they were hiding out on Tuesday.

The release of the photographs was a move by the military to convince sceptical Iraqis that the feared brothers were dead. Many Iraqis, especially Saddam supporters, believed the story of the brothers' killing was concocted by the American military to demoralize opponents of their occupation of the country.

The military released two pictures each of the brothers who were betrayed by an Iraqi, reportedly a Saddam cousin who owned the villa where they were hiding, after the United States offered a US$15 million reward for information leading to the capture or death of either brother.