72 year old Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who was one of late Saddam Hussein’s most trusted henchmen in Ba’ath Party and later became an ISIS commander has died in fighting in Tikrit. al-Douri, who was one of the world’s most wanted man and had a $10million bounty on his head was killed during fighting with government troops in Salahuddin province, north of Baghdad, on Friday according to Iraqi officials. The man, popularly known as King of Clubs, was fighting alongside ISIS militants.
Today, after parading his body in glass coffin so Iraqi people could see that he’d been killed, they delivered his body to the Ministry of Health in Baghdad. See the photos after the cut…
Al-Douri, headed the Naqshbandi Order insurgent group, an important faction behind the recent rise of ISIS.
He was one of Saddam’s most trusted henchmen, helping to lead his 1968 bloodless coup. Both Al-Douri and Saddam came from the same Tikriti tribal background.
His daughter was briefly married to Saddam’s elder son, Uday, who – together with his brother Qusay – was killed by US forces in Mosul in July 2003.
He was then deputy to Saddam when he was deposed following the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Following the execution of Saddam Hussein on 30 December, 2006, Al-Douri was confirmed as the new leader of the banned Ba’ath Party.
Al-Douri was deemed the most high-profile official of Saddam’s Ba’ath Party to evade capture after the invasion.
He was ranked sixth on the US military’s list of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis after offensive to overthrow Saddam and had a $10m bounty on his head.
He was the King of Clubs in the infamous pack of cards the US issued of wanted members of Saddam’s regime after its collapse.
Source: UK Daily Mail/Reuters/AP