Iraq: Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay could have been hiding at a villa in Mosul for up to three weeks before they were killed in a shoot-out with US troops, writes Miral Fahmy
Shocked residents of the affluent al-Falah neighbourhood said they did not know their deposed leader's feared sons had been living in their midst until news of their death spread through the northern Iraqi town on Tuesday. Nobody ever saw them leave the villa, they said.
And their host, businessman Nawaf al-Zeidane, and his family went about their daily routine with no apparent changes. They went out, spent time in the garden and did the shopping.
"Nobody sensed anything odd, but when this huge US force swooped down on Nawaf's house a lot of things made sense," said Thair al-Dabba'agh, who runs a grocery store in the area.
"For about three weeks, Nawaf would buy expensive foodstuffs and pay for them upfront, which is very unusual for him, so I figured he had important guests. But only when I heard the news yesterday, I understood that he was hiding Saddam's sons".
Some neighbours now say they suspect that Mr Zeidane - who they admit was far from popular with them and was believed to be close to Iraq's former ruling family - might have turned against the two men to get the $30 million combined price the United States had put on their heads.
The US military said yesterday their raid on the villa in Mosul followed a tip-off from an Iraqi. It did not identify the informant.
Mr Zeidane could not be found to give his side of the story. His imposing mansion was destroyed in the six-hour battle, which left rocket holes in the walls and pillars teetering unsteadily, pitted with bullet holes.
Neighbours said Mr Zeidane loved to boast he was so close to Saddam that the ousted leader saw him as a cousin.
Mosul, a picturesque town inhabited by Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen, is not far from Saddam's hometown Tikrit. It was one of the first places that the Iraqi leader was rumoured to have fled to after he was ousted by US troops on April 9th.
There was a reminder yesterday that Saddam remains an idol to some in Iraq when about a dozen people turned out on a street close to the villa waving his picture and chanting the once familiar: "We will sacrifice our blood and souls for Saddam."
US troops moved in quickly to disperse them peacefully. Despite US assurances that troops from the 101st Airborne Division had killed Uday and Qusay, many residents remained incredulous and demanded to see their bodies.
"The Americans have always lied to us and we're here 24 hours a day and never noticed anything odd," said Mubarak Hamed, who guards one of the villas in al-Falah. "I don't think they killed them," he declared.
But after a brief pause, added: "Well, maybe they did. I don't know." - (Reuters)