Uday - Qusay Buried in Home Town

The bodies of ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein`s sons, Uday and Qusay, and Qusay`s son Mustafa were buried Saturday in the family cemetery in Awja in the Tikrit region, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society said. They were killed on July 22 in Mosul by U.S. forces.

The funeral was conducted in a small scale while relatives and tribe leaders participated and the bodies were wrapped in the Iraqi flag and buried by the participants.

Feared of possible terrorist attacks, U.S. forces restricted the number of participants to join the funeral to 150 and reinforced security around the cemetery. As the funeral was carried out at Tikrit where Saddam still holds great support, the U.S. forces are concerned about anti-American sentiment it may provoke. In the very nick of time, 3 U.S. soldiers were injured by unidentified bombs right after the funeral.

Earlier to the funeral, right after the Iraqi Red Crescent Society took over the bodies of Uday and Qusay, a U.S. soldier was killed and three were wounded in south of Shumayat, north of Baghdad, when their vehicle was attacked by a portable rocket launcher.

For an Iraqi source who provided a critical tipoff on whereabouts of Uday and Qusay and his family, the U.S. forces helped to escape out of Iraq and paid the 30 million reward, chief Iraqi Administrator Paul Bremer said Saturday.

Meanwhile, Saddam`s two daughters who escaped to Jordan, Raghad(34) and Rana(32) had a press conference Saturday in at a royal palace in Jordan and said, “We will claim the bodies of Uday and Qusay in order to give them a proper Muslim burial.” And they added, “The main betrayal came from the people whom he trusted fully, those he considered his right hand. They betrayed their country before betraying our father.”

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