Two U.S. Soldiers Killed, Odai & Qusai Buried in Tikrit

02/08/2003| IslamWeb

A U.S. soldier was killed and three were wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on their convoy east of Baghdad, the military reported Saturday. The Arab satellite television broadcaster Al-Jazeera reported that one U.S. soldier also died Saturday morning in an attack north of the capital, but the military said it had no details on the incident. The military also announced Saturday that U.S. soldiers, firing in self-defense Friday, had killed a woman who was standing near where attackers dropped an explosive from an overpass onto the U.S. convoy below. In Friday, an Iraqi woman was killed by US soldiers who had come under fire in the Mansur district of Baghdad. **Odai and Qusai Reportedly Buried in their Hometown*** The U.S. military handed over the bodies of Saddam Hussein's sons, Odai and Qusai, to the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, which took the corpses for burial in their hometown of Tikrit, the U.S. Army said on Saturday. The bodies of the two men had been held in refrigeration at the U.S. base at Baghdad International Airport where they were prepared for burial according to western - not Muslim - custom by military morticians. The brothers were killed by American forces in a huge and lengthy gun battle July 22 in Mosul, the northernmost Iraqi big city. The Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera reported from Tikrit that the bodies were buried in the family cemetery Saturday morning, wrapped in Iraqi flags. The handling of the bodies, including autopsies conducted by the military, touched off a controversy throughout Iraq. Muslim tradition calls for bodies not to be embalmed or in any way retouched and for them to be buried as soon as possible. U.S. military sources expressed concern about the return of the men to the city, where the former ruling family is still revered for granting huge economic and political favors to residents. Large numbers of the Saddam family clan still live in the city. **Support for Saddam from Daughter*** In an emotional interview, Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter has spoken of how much she misses her fugitive father and called on God to protect him in his ordeal. Raghd Hussein told Dubai-based Al Arabiya television that aides close to Saddam had betrayed the former Iraqi president, who she said she last saw five days before the war at a warm family gathering. She told interviewers that on that day her father was courageous, strong and trusting in God's will that everything would be alright. The United States is offering a 25 million US dollars reward for information leading to Saddam and US troops in Iraq have now been given digitally enhanced pictures of the toppled leader to help them recognize him in the event that he has changed his appearance during his time on the run. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Qusay and Uday (R) chat in an undated file photograph during a Ba'ath Party election reception. REUTERS/Iraqi News Agency