ImageCourtesy: Time.com
Fugitive Iraqi militant leader Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, has been killed, according to the statement made available to the medium. A former right-hand man to the late Saddam Hussein, he supposedly died in conflict against the government troops in the province of Salahuddin, north of Baghdad.
Al-Douri led the Naqshbandi Order insurgent group, a key force behind the recent rebellious rise of the Islamic State. He was the deputy and second-in-command to the former President Saddam Hussein, who was ousted by the American forces and its allies when they invaded Iraq in the year 2003 and executed later in 2006.
Al-Douri, aged 72, 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.
Reports surfacing al-Douri’s death or capture before began some time ago, but correspondents and people having adequate knowledge of the same, say that this is most credible so far. Al-Arabiya TV, a news channel, showed a picture of what is believed to be al-Douri’s body.
Salahuddin governor Raed al-Jabouri said he died during an encounter with soldiers and allied Shia militia, east of Tikrit – a city that had been recaptured by the government forces about two weeks ago.
Al-Douri is believed to be the mastermind behind the previous year’s offensive by the Islamic State. He has also been involved in many such other instances. Not to be forgotten this is not the first time that there have rumours about his death.
Tags: Al-douri Iraqi militant leader Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri
