BAGHDAD - Three U.S. soldiers died in northern Iraq Thursday in the second fatal attack on troops from the 101st Airborne Division since they tracked down and killed Saddam Hussein's feared sons Uday and Qusay.

Washington had hoped the deaths of the brothers, killed on Tuesday when 200 soldiers stormed their hideout in Mosul, would end a guerrilla war that has claimed 44 U.S. lives since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1.

But with attacks continuing and many Iraqis still worried the hated former ruling family may rise again, the Pentagon prepared to publish grisly mortuary photos to try to convince them Uday and Qusay really are dead.

The U.S. military said the three soldiers from the 101st died when their vehicles were ambushed close to Qayara, south of Mosul, by gunmen who also fired rocket-propelled grenades.

A television grab shows the smoldering wreckage of a U.S. military vehicle which blew up in a Baghdad street on July 24, 2003, an amateur cameraman who took the footage told Reuters. Local people said the explosion happened in the late afternoon in the capital's southern Dora district. It was not clear what caused the explosion. U.S. vehicles have fallen frequent victim in Iraq to improvised mines, roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenade attacks. Photo by Reuters Tv/Reuters

Wednesday, one soldier from the division was killed and seven were wounded when two vehicles hit a mine on the outskirts of the city, and in a separate ambush, a soldier from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment was killed west of Baghdad.

Five U.S. soldiers have now been killed since the deaths of Uday, 39, and Qusay, 37, Saddam's heir apparent. In all, 11 have died in the past week alone.

U.S. officials had warned of the risk of revenge attacks, and al-Jazeera television aired footage of masked men with rifles and grenade launchers vowing vengeance. "We will make them regret what they did to Uday and Qusay," one said.

But Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of ground forces in Iraq, said the killing of the brothers would demoralize guerrillas and help tighten the noose around Saddam, who has a $25 million price on his head.

In Baghdad, two Iraqis were killed when U.S. troops opened fire on a car that ignored instructions to stop, local witnesses said. The car burst into flames leaving a charred wreck. Two bodies were taken to hospital, residents said.

GRIM PHOTOGRAPHS

After decades of official lies, many Iraqis say they will not believe Saddam's heirs are dead until they see photographs.

"I don't know why, but if I don't see with my own eyes I won't believe it," said Nairy Bedrosian, an Iraqi woman who works at an Internet cafe.

Ismail Zaiyer, editor-in-chief of Al Sabah, a newspaper backed by the U.S.-led administration, said he would run a special edition if pictures of the bodies were released. The paper is not usually published Friday, the Muslim holy day.

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said proof that Saddam's sons were dead might quell violence against U.S. forces and quash fears Saddam could return to power.

"We are going to make sure the Iraqi people believe us at the end of the day," he said, adding Washington might release "shocking" photographs despite the offence it might cause.

The brothers were tracked down after a tip-off from an Iraqi informant expected to get the two $15 million rewards offered for information leading to their death or capture.

They were holed up in a Mosul villa with a bodyguard and Qusay's teenage son, U.S. officials say. Armed only with AK-47 assault rifles, they wounded four American soldiers and held out for hours against a devastating array of U.S. firepower, including attack helicopters, heavy machineguns and grenades.

U.S. commanders said Uday, Qusay and the bodyguard were eventually killed when the house was blasted with 10 anti-tank missiles. The teen-ager made a last stand but was shot as troops raced up the stairs after finally getting into the villa.

The deaths of the brothers, and the capture of a cousin of Saddam who led the elite Special Republican Guard, brought to 37 the number of Iraqis on a list of 55 most-wanted fugitives to have been caught or killed since Saddam was toppled.

France, which led opposition to the war that toppled Saddam, welcomed the killing of Uday and Qusay but said it could spark revenge attacks. Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said the United Nations should take over peacekeeping.

"The death of the two sons who were the future of Saddam Hussein's regime marks the end of an era and we can hope that with the capture of Saddam himself the page will be definitively turned," he said.

"One can also imagine resistance ... intensifying. That's why for France the key is to press ahead with the political process."

Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd

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