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US defense officials were investigating whether a strike on a three-vehicle convoy fleeing Iraq near the Syrian border last Wednesday killed top Iraqi officials, perhaps including ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein or his sons, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
The officials said on Sunday that DNA tests were being carried out on the victims, and the AC-130 gunship strike by Special Operations forces had drawn high-level attention in the Pentagon. But they added that so far there was no evidence Saddam was hit.
Some US intelligence officials expressed doubt as to whether the strike had targeted Saddam or his sons, Uday and Qusay, who are the top three on the US list of most-wanted officials in Iraq.
A senior US defense official said there was "nothing specific" about Saddam in the intelligence that prompted the attack, "although it was tied to the leadership in some manner or another."
(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2003)
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