Uday, Qusay off rewards website

2003-07-23 21:48

Washington - Bright red lines were superimposed Wednesday over photographs of Uday and Qusay Hussein on a US state department website advertising up to $15m rewards for information leading to their capture.

The photographs were crossed out shortly after a Baghdad news conference at which the US military announced it had conclusive evidence, including from dental records, that Saddam Hussein's two sons had been killed in a firefight on Tuesday at a private home in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

"On July 22, 2003, Uday and Qusay Hussein were killed and rewards are pending," the site (www.rewardsforjustice.net) said, reminding readers that a larger bounty for Saddam himself was still unclaimed.

"Rewards of up to $25m are still offered for the capture of Saddam Hussein," it said.

"Individuals providing information may be eligible for a reward of up to $25m, protection of their identities, and relocation of their families," the site added.

Photographs of the three men were placed on the site, run by the state department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, on July 3 after Paul Bremer, the US civilian administrator in Iraq, announced the rewards to encourage Iraqis to turn them in.

The site offered no details on the status of the rewards for the informant who tipped the US military to Uday and Qusay's presence at the house in Mosul.

But US military officials said they expected the man, believed by locals in Mosul to be the owner of the home, tribal chief Nawaf Mohammed al-Zaidan, would receive the awards.

The informant is now under US protection, they said.

- AFX