An American bomber struck a residential complex in Baghdad on Monday after U.S. intelligence received information that Saddam Hussein, his sons and other top Iraqi leaders might be meeting there, U.S. officials said.
There was no immediate word on who might have been killed, but U.S. officials said they had evidence the target had been destroyed. "There is a big hole where that target used to be," one U.S. official said, according to AP.
The attack was carried out by a single B-1B bomber which dropped four 2,000-pound, bunker-penetrating bombs on the residential building, military officials said.
The strike came at 3 p.m. Baghdad time in the upscale Mansour neighborhood, said Marine Maj. Brad Bartelt, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Qatar. "We are confirming that a leadership target was indeed hit very hard," Bartelt said.
Three adjoining houses in the Mansour neighborhood were destroyed Monday afternoon in a strike neighbors said they believed came from a US missile.
Rescue workers were looking in the rubble for victims. Two bodies were recovered initially, but the toll could go as high as 14, they said.
U.S. officials said American intelligence learned Monday morning of a high-level meeting in Baghdad between senior Iraqi intelligence officials and, possibly, Saddam and his two sons, Qusai and Uday.
The intelligence was passed to U.S. Central Command, which sent aircraft to drop bunker-busting bombs on the target. (Albawaba.com)
