Iraqis doubt killing reports

Saddam's sons were key figures in the deposed regime

Ordinary Iraqis remain very sceptical about the US announcement that coalition forces killed Saddam Hussein's two sons on Tuesday.

There were some scenes of jubilation, with people firing guns into the air in celebration at the news.

And the new Governing Council of Iraq hailed the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein as "God's justice", the French news agency AFP reported.

But many people expressed doubt about the reported deaths - and continuing fear of the brothers who were key figures in Saddam Hussein's regime.

There is so much to say about Uday and Qusay - but I won't say any more until we are sure they are dead Baghdad waiter Emmanuel Nissan Analysis: Huge effects of deaths Profile: Saddam's hated sons In pictures: Saddam's sons

"How do I know they are dead? I am afraid that Uday could return and ask me why I have been talking about him," a waiter at a Baghdad restaurant frequented by the brothers told the Reuters news agency.

"There is so much to say about Uday and Qusay. But I won't say any more until we are sure they are dead," the waiter, Emmanuel Nissan, said.

Reporters pressed the commander of coalition ground forces in Iraq hard on the question of when the US would produce evidence such as photos or video of the dead brothers.

But the officer, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, would not be drawn on the question.

'No doubt'

He said dental records and several independent positive identifications by former regime officials showed that two bodies recovered from a villa attacked on Tuesday were Qusay and Uday Hussein.

In addition, he said, the injuries on one of the bodies matched those on Uday's X-ray records, taken after an assassination attempt crippled him.

HAVE YOUR SAY Iraqis will now view them as martyrs - and the US as lawless occupiers Norman Harper, US Send us your comments

"We have no doubt that we have the bodies of Uday and Qusay," he told reporters at a briefing in Baghdad.

People at a clinic in the predominantly Shia Baghdad suburb of Sadr City expressed contrasting views about the reports the brothers had been killed.

"They should have been captured alive. But if it's proven that they are really dead, that would be great news," Adel Abu Salam told AFP.

"It's only a lie," clinic employee Abbas Shalab countered. "It's a plot so [the Americans] can win the sympathy of the population."