The initial strikes o­n Baghdad, which the Pentagon called a 'decapitation' exercise, may have killed President Saddam Hussein or o­ne of his sons, said a media report today.

Quoting intelligence sources, ABCNews said it is believed that the president and his sons were in a residential complex when the missiles struck at 10.30am (Malaysian time) and that at least o­ne of them could have been killed.

The report added that intelligence officials were divided over whether the 66-year-old leader was killed or just wounded in the morning raid.

Sources said the strikes targetted a large residential complex in a Baghdad suburb, not a military installation or o­ne of Saddam's palaces.

They added that the president and his advisers were believed to be sleeping inside a "hardened bunker" beneath the ground floor.

CIA: It's Saddam

Within hours of the strike, Saddam appeared o­n Iraqi television and urged his people to wage a holy against the aggressors and this sparked off a debate whether the person delivering the speech was really him or a body double.

The man o­n the screen wore glasses, looked old and tired, unlike the Iraqi leader's robust appearance three days earlier.

However, the CIA later concluded that the man was Saddam after conducting a voice analysis of his speech and using computer algorithms.

The ABCNews report said German pathologist Dieter Buhmann, who has studied hundreds of photographs of Saddam's public appearances, agreed with the CIA.

Buhmann had earlier measured and mapped Saddam's mustache and eyebrows, and concluded that he uses at least three different doubles.

Mistress: It's a double

In a related development, a Washington Post report quoted a woman who claimed to be the Iraqi leader's mistress for 30 years as saying that the man who appeared after the bombing was not Saddam.

Citing an American official, the daily said Parisoula Lampsos had previously distinguished Saddam from his doubles in more than a dozen cases.

Last year, Lampsos told ABCNews that she could spot Saddam's doubles.

She said the real Saddam had an unusual tattoo: two dots o­n his left hand that he received in prison years ago. But his eyes are the real giveaway.

"Look everywhere it might change. You can change your teeth, everywhere. But the eyes, no," she added.