Hussein Family Reportedly Leaves Iraq

LONDON —  Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has sent his family and unspecified senior government officials to Mauritania in western Africa, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported today.

But an embassy spokesman in Mauritania said, “We have no information that would tend to confirm that.”

The BBC report, which cited unidentified Western diplomatic sources, said two Iraqi Airways planes landed in Mauritania on Wednesday, followed the next day by a pair of Iraqi military aircraft.

U.S. and allied forces on Wednesday began a fierce bombing campaign aimed at driving Iraq from Kuwait. The assault has taken a heavy toll on government and military targets in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, U.S. officials say.