But the deaths of two US soldiers in fresh ambushes in Iraq dented any hopes that the elimination of Saddam's feared sons would also snuff out a guerrilla insurgency against occupying forces.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the US commander in Iraq, said visual identification by four former aides, as well as medical and dental records, confirmed that two of four people killed in the battle at the villa were Uday and Qusay.

"We have no doubt that we have the bodies of Uday and Qusay," Sanchez said. But many Iraqis say they want proof.

A US official in Washington told Reuters there are plans to release photographs of the brothers' bodies. The official, who asked not to be identified, saw facial photos of the pair and said they "are pretty bad" but recognizable.

Sanchez said US troops had also detained Barzan Abd Ghafur Sulayman al-Tikriti, the Special Republican Guard commander who was No. 11 on a list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. Of the 55, 37 have been captured or killed.

"It confirms that we will succeed in our hunt for former regime members, and in particular Saddam Hussein, wherever they are and however long it takes," Sanchez said.

Sanchez detailed the array of devastating firepower used against Uday and Qusay, who were barricaded in a fortified section of the villa with two others. Firing AK-47 assault rifles, they wounded four soldiers trying to arrest them.

Around 200 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division pounded the house using grenades, rocket-firing Kiowa attack helicopters, heavy machine guns and anti-tank missiles.

Sanchez said 10 TOW anti-tank missiles were fired at the villa. Planes, Apache helicopters and even a psy-ops team were on standby to help if needed, but were not used.

Sanchez said three adults in the villa were probably killed by the missile strikes. The last person left alive inside was a teen-ager who US officials say was Saddam's grandson. He was killed when he fired at troops who stormed the house.

Just hours after the brothers were killed in Mosul, a US soldier was killed and seven wounded when two vehicles hit a mine near the city, a US military official said.

In a separate ambush, another soldier was killed and two wounded when their convoy was attacked near the restive town of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a hotspot in the "Sunni triangle."

US officials had said they feared an upsurge in attacks as die-hard Saddam loyalists sought to avenge his sons.

But officers said killing Uday and Qusay would ultimately help silence guerrillas who have killed 41 American soldiers since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1, and give fresh impetus to the search for Saddam himself.

Sanchez said Uday, 39, and 37-year-old Qusay, Saddam's "crown prince," were tracked down after a tip-off from a walk-in informant who will probably get the two $15 million rewards offered for information on their whereabouts.

Mosul residents said the owner of the villa where they were hiding may have betrayed them to claim the cash.

But in Tikrit, where the walls are littered with references to Saddam even if his main palace here is now home to the US troops hunting him down, residents found the whole affair hard to swallow.

"I don't believe it. I saw a lot of stuff on TV, but none of it is true," 23-year-old medical student Akil Edan told the AFP.

"If they want us to believe it, they should show us the bodies."

At Baghdad, Iraqis meanwhile rejoiced the killing but said they will not believe the nightmare is finally over until they see the corpses and the coalition cuts off the head of the snake... Saddam himself.

"It's only a lie," clinic employee Abbas Shalab pipes up. "It's a plot so they (the Americans) win the sympathy of the population."

Idriss Salem adds: "We want Saddam, who is a cancer, which must be attacked at the root."

"When we get rid of Saddam, we hope also to be rid of the Americans," Salem added.