US convoy attack 'inside Syria'
From correspondents in Washington
24jun03

A US attack last week on a convoy believed to have been carrying 
Iraqi leaders injured several Syrians and may have occurred on 
Syrian territory, a US Defence Department spokesman said today.  

The attack on suspected "leadership targets" in the convoy, which 
was heading toward Syria, occurred on Thursday.  

"There were a few Syrian nationals involved in the incident," said 
Lieutenant Colonel Gary Keck, a Pentagon spokesman. "A few may 
have been injured. We are treating those."  

Keck said "it is still to be determined which side of the border" the 
convoy was on when it was hit but that the United States was working 
with the Syrian government.  

US forces were investigating at the scene, but there was no information 
as to whether any fugitive Iraqis were hit, Keck said.  

The attack has prompted reports that US officials believed deposed 
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein or his sons may have been in the convoy.  

The White House would not say whether Saddam or his sons were 
believed to have been in the convoy.  

"I can confirm for you that there were military operations against 
leadership target or targets," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer 
told reporters.  

"This should be seen in keeping with the ongoing military effort in 
Iraq to bring justice to people who we believe are associated with 
the regime or are leaders in the regime," added the spokesman.  

A US defence official with knowledge of the intelligence that led to 
the strike, said reports that Saddam or his sons were hit were "wishful 
thinking".  

The British weekly, The Observer, reported yesterday the convoy was 
believed to be carrying the deposed Iraqi leader and his eldest son, 
Uday, and that US experts were carrying out DNA tests on remains 
recovered from the convoy.  

It said the convoy was struck by missiles as it entered Syria from Iraq 
after the United States intercepted a satellite phone conversation in 
which either Saddam or his sons were overheard.  

A US defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he 
knew of no effort to collect DNA samples at the site.  

He declined to discuss the nature of the intelligence that prompted 
the attack, but told AFP: "I think there is a lot of wishful thinking."  

"A lot of what is being reported is not accurate," he said.  

"We attacked a convoy along a route. We thought it might have been 
leadership. We didn't know who," the official said.  

(snip)


Full article at "The Advertiser" - Adelaide
www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,6644892%255E401,00.html


Cheers, Steve..

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