IRAQ Photos of bodies released

X-rays, dental records and four members of Saddam's regime confirmed that the bodies are his sons'.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The U.S. military released photographs today showing the bloodied bodies of Saddam Hussein's sons, Odai and Qusai, in an effort to prove they were killed in a fierce gunbattle this week.
One of the photos seen by The Associated Press showed Odai with a thick beard and severely bruised face. The military has said the brothers and a third man, believed to have been a bodyguard, were killed by U.S. TOW missiles fired into the villa where they were hiding out Tuesday.
The photos showed the men from the chest up -- one on bloody white sheets, the other in what appeared to be a body bag -- with blood caked on their faces. Both men, with heavy beards, had their eyes closed, the lids darkly bruised.
One appeared to have a gash across his blood-splattered face and bruises over his forehead.
Comparison photos
In addition to the photos, the military released photos of Odai and Qusai when they were alive for comparison and X-rays of Odai, who was injured in the leg in an assassination attempt in the 1990s.
The release of the photographs was a move by the military to convince skeptical 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 of each man.
The photographs were immediately broadcast by CNN and two Arab satellite television networks widely viewed in Iraq.
Confirmed identities
The top U.S. commander in Iraq said x-rays, dental records and four former members of Saddam's regime had confirmed that the two dead were the ousted Iraqi leader's eldest two sons.
They were killed in a fierce gunbattle with U.S. forces at a villa in the northern city of Mosul after an Iraqi informant tipped the Americans off to their presence there.
The night the brothers were killed, Baghdad erupted in celebratory gunfire, but a large part of the Iraqi population remained unconvinced, with many people saying they would not believe the brutal pair who ran their father's military and intelligence forces were dead until they had seen the pictures.
In Baghdad today, some members of Iraq's Governing Council were shown the brothers' bodies, which are being stored at Baghdad International Airport, a Coalition Provisional Authority official said.
The authority also spoke with council members about how to release pictures of the bodies to the public, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Revenge tape
Arab satellite broadcaster al-Arabiya aired a tape of what it said were a group of Saddam Fedayeen vowing revenge for the deaths of Odai and Qusai Hussein.
"We want to say to the occupation forces, they said last night that killing Odai and Qusai will diminish [resistance] attacks but we want to say to them that their death will increase attacks against them," one of three masked men in the tape read from a statement.
The Fedayeen militia was once led by Odai. Coalition officials have repeatedly blamed former militia members for some of the attacks on U.S. soldiers.
Soldiers killed
Meanwhile, three American soldiers were killed today when their convoy was hit by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades in northern Iraq, a military spokeswoman said. In Baghdad, two Iraqis were killed when their car approached a U.S. military checkpoint.
V Corps spokeswoman Spc. Nicole Thompson said the soldiers, members of the 101st Airborne Division, were traveling in a convoy toward Qayyarah, 185 miles north of the capital, Baghdad, when they were attacked about 2:30 a.m. No soldiers were reported wounded and it was not known whether any assailants were killed or wounded.
It was the second attack in two days that killed members of the division, which led the fiery assault in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul that killed Odai and Qusai Hussein.
On Wednesday, two American soldiers were killed in separate attacks on their convoys, including one near Mosul.
The latest deaths brought to 158 the number of U.S. servicemen killed in action since the war began March 20, surpassing by 11 the death toll in the 1991 Gulf War.
In Baghdad today, two Iraqi men were killed after the car they were in approached a U.S. checkpoint near the downtown al-Geilani mosque and American troops opened fire. Witnesses told AP the two men were killed after the car caught fire.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.