Photos of Saddam's killed sons released

　　Three american soldiers were killed yesterday when their convoy was hit by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades in northern Iraq, a military spokeswoman said.

　　It was the second attack in two days that killed members of the 101st Airborne Division, which led the intense but sporadic fiery assault in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul that killed Odai and Qusai Hussein on Tuesday. The killings were further signs that the insurgency against American troops isn't losing its strength.

　　Meanwhile, the US military released graphic photographs yesterday showing the faces of Saddam Hussein's sons Odai and Qusai, two days after they were killed in a fierce firefight in a villa in the northern city of Mosul.

　　The photos, two of each brother, showed the men with thick beards and severely bruised faces. The brothers had never worn thick beards, and may have been trying to disguise their identities as they spent 3 and half months in hiding from coalition forces.

　　The photographs were immediately broadcast by US-sponsored Iraqi TV, CNN and two Arab satellite television networks widely viewed in Iraq. The al-Sa'a newspaper, which is published twice a week and is close to the American occupation authorities, held its front and back pages open to publish them today.

　　Military spokeswoman Nicole Thompson in Baghdad said the American soldiers were traveling in a convoy toward Qayyarah, 300 kilometers north of the capital, when they were attacked around 2:30 am.

　　No other soldiers in the convoy near Mosul were wounded, Thompson said, adding it wasn't known where the convoy began its journey.

　　There was no word if any of the attackers were acting out of revenge about the deaths of the two brothers.

　　On wednesday, two American soldiers were killed in attacks on their convoys, including one near Mosul, and one in Ramaldi, 100 kilometers west of the capital, killing one soldier and wounding two more.

　　The deaths brought to 158 the number of American servicemen killed in action since the war began on March 20, surpassing by 11 the death toll in the 1991 Gulf War.

　　The hussein brothers were Nos 2 and 3 on the US list of 55 most-wanted from the toppled Saddam regime. Guerrilla holdouts loyal to the regime have been attacking US forces at a rate of about 12 times daily in an effort to wear down the American occupation and drive it from the country.

　　The release of the photographs was a move by the military to convince skeptical Iraqis that the brothers were dead. Many Iraqis, especially Saddam supporters, believed the American military concocted the story of the brothers' killing to demoralize opponents of the US occupation.

　　Abbas fadhil, a 44-year-old barbershop owner, said he had no doubts after seeing the pictures on Iraqi TV that the photographs were of the brothers, but was confused by the US decision not to show the brothers bodies in full.