IRAQ: A group loyal to Saddam Hussein vowed yesterday in a videotape broadcast on al Arabiya, an Arab television network, to avenge the killing of his two sons by US troops.
The warning came as three US soldiers with the 101st Airborne - the unit which led the assault that resulted in their deaths - were killed in an ambush south of Mosul.
"We pledge to you Iraqi people that we will continue in the jihad (holy struggle) against the infidels. The killing of Uday and Qusay will be avenged," said a masked man who claimed to be from the Saddam Fedayeen.
The tape showed a group of masked men holding automatic rifles in a room which had its walls covered by photos of Saddam and his sons.
"The killing of Uday and Qusay will not decrease the attacks against the Americans, but rather increase them," the speaker said. The group also threatened to kill Iraqis who collaborated with the US forces. "We will fight these spies and traitors before we fight the Americans."
Uday Hussein led the Saddam Fedayeen militia, remnants of which some US officials say are behind attacks which have killed 44 US troops since President Bush declared combat over on May 1st. Other groups, including Islamists, have also claimed responsibility for some attacks.
The speaker on the tape praised Saddam's sons, who had "died as martyrs" ferociously fighting 200 US soldiers backed by tanks and helicopters. "This intifada will continue until we liberate the land of Iraq."
A US official said yesterday that a CIA technical analysis of an audio tape broadcast this week on Arab television had determined that it was "likely" to have been Saddam Hussein's voice.
"Although it cannot be determined with absolute certainty, the CIA's assessment after a technical analysis of the tape is that it is likely it is Saddam Hussein's voice," the official said of the tape, which was dated July 20th.
The three US soldiers who died yesterday were killed when their vehicles were ambushed close to Qayara, south of Mosul, by gunmen who also fired rocket-propelled grenades.
On Wednesday, one soldier from the division was killed and seven were wounded when two vehicles struck a mine. In a separate ambush, a soldier from the 3rd Armoured Cavalry was killed west of Baghdad.
Five US soldiers have now been killed since the deaths of Uday (39) and Qusay (37), Saddam's heir apparent. In all, 11 soldiers have died in the past week alone.
US officials had warned of revenge attacks as al-Jazeera television aired footage of masked men with rifles and grenade-launchers vowing vengeance. "We will make them regret what they did to Uday and Qusay," one said. However, Lieut-Gen Ricardo Sanchez, commander of US ground forces in Iraq, said that the killing of the brothers would demoralise guerrillas and help to tighten the noose around Saddam, who has a $25 million price on his head.
In Baghdad, two Iraqis were killed yesterday when US troops fired on a car which refused to stop. The car burst into flames. Two bodies were removed to a hospital, residents said. - (Reuters).