US defence officials are today investigating whether an attack on three vehicles fleeing Iraq near the Syrian border killed Saddam Hussein or his sons.
They said DNA tests were being carried out on the victims, killed in the strike by a special forces AC-130 gunship.
But they told the Washington Postthat so far there was no evidence Saddam had been hit. The attack on the moving convoy took place, the officials said.
One source told the newspaper it "chewed up something big" and added that the targets were believed to be among the top four or five Iraqis being sought by US forces.
Saddam and his sons Uday and Qusay are numbers one, two and three on Washington's Most Wanted list.
The hunt for Saddam gained a new impetus on June 16th when US forces captured his closest aide, Abid Hamid Mahmud, in Tikrit, Saddam's home town.
US defence officials said Mahmud had told them Saddam and his sons had survived the war and that the sons had escaped with Mahmud to Syria, only to be forced to return to Iraq.
PA