Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Al-Douri featured prominently in the US “pack of cards” of wanted Iraqi officials
Fugitive Iraqi militant leader Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who was right-hand man to Iraq’s ex-leader Saddam Hussein, has been killed, Iraqi officials say.
They say he died in fighting in Salahuddin province, north of Baghdad. His supporters have denied the claim.
Al-Douri, 72, led the Naqshbandi Order insurgent group, a key force behind the recent rise of Islamic State (IS).
He was deputy to Saddam Hussein, who was ousted when US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003 and executed in 2006.
Al-Douri was regarded as the most high-profile official of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party to successfully evade capture after the invasion, and had a large bounty on his head for years.
He was the King of Clubs in the famous pack of cards the US issued of wanted members of Saddam Hussein’s regime after its defeat.
Body picture
There have been reports of al-Douri’s death or capture before. The now dissolved Baath party denied the latest claim.
However, al-Arabiya TV showed a picture of what it said was al-Douri’s body.
Salahuddin governor Raed al-Jabouri said he had died during an operation by soldiers and allied Shia militiamen east of Tikrit – a city that was recaptured by the government two weeks ago.
Iraqi forces, backed by US-led air strikes, have seized large areas from IS and its allies in recent months.
But the jihadist group still controls swathes of northern and western Iraq, including the second city of Mosul.
Al-Douri is believed to have played a key role in masterminding last year’s offensive by IS.
BBC