Ezzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a former aide to late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and a leader of Iraq’s Sunni insurgency, may have been killed by Iraqi forces and Shia militias fighting the insurgents.
Al-Douri was killed in a military operation, Raed al-Jubouri, the Governor of Salahuddin province, told Reuters. However, Khdhayer Almurshidy, a spokesman for Iraq’s former Baath party, said in comments to Iraq’s al-Hadath television that the reports were false. Al-Douri was a senior member of the party.
Mr. Al-Jubouri told Reuters that “a group of security forces went and surrounded the area and those terrorists were killed. Three of them were suicide bombers and blew themselves up. Amongst the bodies was Douri’s.”
He said the operation was carried out in the Hamrin area near al Alam in Salahuddin province, but that Iraqi forces did not know al-Douri was there beforehand.
Mr. Jubouri also spoke to al-Arabiya, where he described the operation as a major victory. He said al-Douri “is considered a mastermind for this terrorist group,” referring to Islamic State (IS).
Baghdad has mounted an offensive against IS and former Baathists once loyal to Saddam Hussein to retake territory captured by IS. Al-Douri was believed to be a key figure in that insurgency.
Ahmed al-Kraim, the head of Salahuddin provincial council, said news of al-Douri’s death was not confirmed and intelligence officers who tracked his movements did not believe he was the man in the photographs.
After Saddam Hussein was toppled and before al-Qaeda and later Islamic State rose to prominence, al-Douri led an insurgency against Baghdad’s Shia-led government, organising and leading major attacks against symbols of the new rule.