BAGHDAD, IRAQ – An Iraqi state-run television has reported the death of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Saddam Hussein’s deputy and former top adviser, in an Iraqi security operation.
Initial report said al-Douri was killed in a security operation after years of evading capture after the fall of Hussein’s regime in 2003.
He was a former Iraqi general and a commander of the Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order.
He was an Iraqi military commander and was Vice Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council, until the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Al-Douri continued to lead elements of the Iraqi insurgency such as the Ba’athist Sufi Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order against the then occupation forces and wages an insurgency against the current regime in Baghdad to this day; he has been described as “the hidden Sheikh of the Men of the Naqshbandi”.
Following the execution of former President Saddam Hussein on 30 December 2006, Al-Douri was confirmed as the new leader of the banned Iraqi Ba’ath Party on 3 January 2007. – BusinessNewsAsia.com