King of ♧ killed in battle
Saddam aide Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri 'killed' in Iraq
Excerpt:
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. 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. 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.More: Paraded in a glass coffin, the King of Clubs returns to Baghdad: Body of ISIS commander who was former Saddam henchman is handed over to authorities. Part of gang known on the famous deck of cards (of which my son, who served in Iraq, brought home with him.). Wiki article
Iraq's King of Clubs crossed out:
ReplyDeleteHe was the highest-ranking fugitive — the King of Clubs, or No. 6 — listed on the deck of cards that U.S. commanders issued in 2003 for the most-wanted regime leaders.
“He was big because he was the guy who orchestrated the transfer of billions of dollars out of Iraq to Syria for the purpose of bank rolling insurgency activities,” said Paul Hughes, a retired Army colonel who advised the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority that administered Iraq immediately after Hussein was toppled. “There were a lot of reports over the years they got him. I am still waiting to hear that the DNA has been tested before I am ready to believe this guy is dead again. But if they got a guy with a big read beard then it sounds like him. And it appears the age is about right. He is in his early 70s.”
“I have been waiting for that [expletive] to die,” he added.
It was not immediately clear who killed him, however, though reports out of Baghdad and the nearby Kurdish regions suggested a Shia Militia was responsible.
Judith Yaphe, a former CIA Iraq analyst, said the potential suspected groups are several, including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant itself, which she said has appeared to have taken revenge on some former Hussein loyalists who joined the group but then became disaffected.
“He probably brought the disgruntled Iraqi army officers into ISIL. Some tried to quit. You do not quit. … It raises in my mind the question who killed him? Maybe [ISIL] killed him,” Yaphe said.
According to the news reports, Iraqi officials were transferring to Baghdad a body of someone who closely resembled the light-complected and mustachioed commander for DNA testing.
“We are not 100 percent sure that the body belongs to Izat al-Douri,” a security official told NBC News. “The government will do fingerprints and DNA tests in order to be sure that the one who was killed is Izzat al-Douri … We have to double confirm this.”