US intelligence divided on Saddam status

US intelligence analysts are divided over whether Saddam Hussein is dead or alive two days after an air strike on an Iraqi leadership bunker.

"We don't know," one US official told The Washington Times. "We just don't know."

The target in southern Baghdad involved about 40 cruise missiles and precision guided bombs.

"There's no question but that the strike on that leadership headquarters was successful," US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.

"We have photographs of what took place. The question is, what was in there?

"And until we gather sufficient information and intelligence, and have more than one source that gives us conviction, we have to assume that the operation is proceeding."

Rumsfeld declined to comment on reports that Saddam Hussein was seen being removed from the bombed site on a stretcher.

Another report said a hospital where he was taken was hit with air strikes.

A US official said medical personnel were called into the bunker after the attack. "But it isn't clear who was wounded or killed," he told the newspaper.

"There are all types of rumours and reports. There are some people that think he may have been killed and some who think he's alive."

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