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TIKRIT, Aug 2: Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s sons, Uday and Qusay, were buried on Saturday in a rushed funeral at a dusty cemetery, as US soldiers scoured the surrounding countryside and villages for the leader himself.
Two graves were dug in the sun-baked earth in Awja, the village where Saddam Hussein was born, on the outskirts of Tikrit. As gusts of wind whipped up clouds of dust, tribal elders covered the bodies with Iraqi flags and heaped stones on the graves.
A religious leader in a white robe intoned prayers as around 40 tribesman stood by the graveside. One man knelt down to kiss one of the graves. Mahmoud al Nada, an elder of the Beijat tribal group that includes Saddam’s family, led the mourners.
Uday and Qusay were killed on July 22 when US troops attacked their hideout in the northern city of Mosul with grenades, heavy machineguns, rockets and anti-tank missiles. Qusay’s son Mustafa and Uday’s bodyguard were also killed.
US officials said at the time they hoped the killing of the brothers would demoralize guerillas mounting daily ambushes on US troops. But there has been no let-up in attacks.
A US official confirmed that Uday and Qusay’s bodies had been handed over to the Iraqi Red Crescent and later buried.
Muslim custom stipulates that bodies must be buried as soon as possible after death. But US officials, anxious to avoid the graves becoming a shrine, delayed the burial while they consulted prominent Iraqis on what to do with the corpses.
Some locals in Tikrit, a stronghold of support for Saddam Hussein, said they regarded the dead brothers as martyrs. “They are the heroes of Iraq,” one said.
HUNT FOR SADDAM: US troops have mounted several raids in Tikrit over the past week, searching for Saddam and his top lieutenants. Officials say the net is closing on the former president.
In the latest raid on Friday night, soldiers from the Fourth Infantry Division swooped on a house in Tikrit and seized a man suspected of organizing guerilla attacks.
“The individual that we were targeting tonight we believe is involved in organizing attacks on US forces, in moving arms for these attacks, and also providing security for members of the regime,” Lt Col Steve Russell told reporters at the scene.
The raid involved several US units, including two helicopters and soldiers equipped with night vision gear. The suspect was led away in plastic handcuffs, blindfolded, and driven off in the back of a truck for interrogation.
On Friday afternoon, two other Saddam loyalists were detained near Tikrit, 170kms north of Baghdad, officials said. They were the latest of “scores” of such figures, some quite senior, detained in raids this week.
Col James Hickey, another US official, said it was “absolutely possible” that Saddam Hussein was hiding around Tikrit.
“We’re acting on the assumption he could very well be here,” he told reporters during a night patrol that he said was part of an offensive campaign against anti-US resistance.
“If he is here, we will get him,” he said. “I am prepared to kill or capture any high-ranking member of the regime.”
But despite a 25 million dollars price on his head, Saddam has yet to be found. Taped messages said to have been recorded by the ex president have been aired on Arab television networks, exhorting Iraqis to fight a jihad to expel occupying troops.
CIA officials say the most recent tapes, broadcast on Tuesday and Friday, are probably genuine.—Reuters
