- British intelligence officials believe Saddam Hussein
escaped America's devastating bomb attack on a building where the Iraqi
leader was thought to be meeting.
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- They say he may have left minutes before four 2,000lb
bombs obliterated the restaurant in the al-Mansour district of Baghdad.
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- The restaurant is reported to have housed an underground
bunker system.
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- "We think he (Saddam) left the same he arrived in
the area, either by a tunnel system of by car, we're not sure," one
British intelligence official told The Times.
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- A US Air Force B-1 bomber dropped the bombs on the building
on Monday afternoon following a tip-off Saddam and his sons were meeting
with other regime leaders.
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- Tip-offs from three separate sources said Saddam was
at the al-Mansour site.
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- US intelligence services informed Allied Central Command
in Qatar and a US B-1B Lancer bomber, which was already in the air, was
redirected to launch an attack.
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- But US officials are reported to have said there is a
"strong chance" Saddam and his sons were killed.
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- Senior US officials told Fox News: "There's a strong
chance we got Saddam and probably both sons."
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- US President George Bush said Saddam's fate remained
unknown.
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- "I don't know whether he survived," President
Bush said after talks with Tony Blair in Belfast.
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- "The only thing I know is that he's losing power.
... Saddam Hussein will be gone," Mr Bush added.
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- The bombing left a 60ft crater and there were local reports
of surrounding homes being destroyed and several civilian bodies being
pulled from the rubble.
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- Iraqi rescue workers said up to 14 civilians were killed,
including a child.
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- Members of the B-1 crew told reporters that they were
patrolling the Iraqi capital when they were told about a high priority
leadership target.
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- The bomber arrived at the target just 12 minutes later.
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- The first two bombs penetrated the building, then the
other two - equipped with a delay fuse - penetrated further into the target.
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- The man who may have killed Saddam, Lieutenant Colonel
Fred Swan, weapons system officer on the bomber, described how he and his
crew felt when the order came through.
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- "We knew it was important and that it might be the
big one," he said.
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- Establishing whether Saddam escaped - or sent a double
to the meeting - may rest on DNA sampling.
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- US authorities are rumoured to have already obtained
samples of his DNA, or they could take samples from close relatives to
identify his corpse.
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- Iraqi authorities denied any leadership figures were
hit in the attack.
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- http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-12283261,00.html<
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