DUBAI, Nov 11
(Reuters) - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's
deputy, Izzat Ibrahim, has died, Al Arabiya
satellite television quoted a Baath party statement
as saying on Friday.
Ibrahim was the most senior member of the former
regime still at large and had been a top insurgent
leader. He is number six on the U.S. military's list
of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis, with a $10 million
reward offered for his capture.
An Al Arabiya correspondent in Baghdad said the
Baath party had sent a statement to a number of Arab
and Western media by e-mail.
Senior Iraqi government officials were so far
unaware of the statement but said they were
checking.
The U.S. State Department said it had no information
on reports of Ibrahim's death.
Sources close to people still active in Saddam's
Baath Party said they were not aware of the
announcement and were themselves trying to check it.
The Al Arabiya correspondent quoted the Baath party
statement as saying Ibrahim died at 2 a.m. on Friday
(2300 GMT Thursday). The correspondent said the
statement did not indicate that he had died in a
military clash or been killed.
"It can be said he died of natural causes,"
Arabiya's correspondent said, adding that Ibrahim
probably died in Iraq.
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Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri,
former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's
second-in-command, is shown in this March 6, 2003
photo. (AP Photo)
Saddam Hussein's former deputy, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri |
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There was no confirmation from other sources and one
Web site which publishes regular news releases from
Baath party supporters made no mention of the death.
Born in 1942, Ibrahim was deputy chairman of the
Revolutionary Command Council, which Saddam headed,
and helped plot the 1968 coup that brought the Baath
party to power.
He had been widely rumoured to have cancer and had
been very ill while in hiding.
He was a senior official responsible for northern
Iraq when poison gas was used on Halabja in 1988,
killing some 5,000 Kurds.
Ibrahim last appeared in public weeks before the
March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, when he laid a
wreath at a Baghdad monument in memory of the
hundreds of thousands killed in the 1980-1988 war
with Iran.
He was in charge of the northern front during the
war.
Over the past year, U.S. and Iraqi forces have
detained several members of Ibrahim's extended
family, and claimed at one point to have captured
Ibrahim himself, but he remained on the run.
(Additional reporting by Washington bureau)
Izzat Ibrahim behind the massacre of 180,000
Kurds
YnetNews - Israel news
Al-Douri was the deputy chairman of the
Revolutionary Command Council which Saddam headed.
He had been widely rumored to have cancer, heart
problems, high blood pressure and diabetes.
Al-Douri had spent the last two years in hiding, and
attempted to find refuge with his sons, three wives
and other relatives and associates at the Musul
region. He used to move from one hiding place to
another, accompanied by several of his sons and body
guards.
Over the past year, U.S. and Iraqi forces have
detained several members of al-Douri's extended
family, and claimed at one point to have captured
Ibrahim himself, but he remained on the run.
At the beginning of his political career, Ibrahim
filled various positions in the Baath party
leadership and the Iraqi government.
After Saddam's ascendance to power, Ibrahim had won
the leader's trust and had represented Iraq in
several Arab states summits.
Over the years al-Douri was appointed several times
in charge of the northern Iraq district where the
Kurd population resides. In 1988 Ibrahim and General
Ali Hassan al Majeed, also known as Chemical Ali,
headed the massacre of 180,000 Kurds, during which
scores of people were buried in mass graves and
entire Kurd towns were wiped off the map.
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