Former Hussein confidant reported killed in Iraq fight

BEIRUT — Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a fugitive confidant of former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein who helped spearhead a deadly insurgency against U.S. troops and later formed an alliance with Islamic State militants, was shot dead Friday by security forces, officials said.

Al-Douri, a former vice president known for his trademark ginger mustache and black beret, was dubbed the king of clubs in the deck of playing cards that the Pentagon issued to identify the most-wanted members of Hussein’s government.

The former general was the highest-ranking Iraqi official to avoid capture following the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Hussein in 2003. He was the last living member of the late Hussein’s inner circle.

Gunfire from pro-government militiamen killed al-Douri and nine bodyguards while they were riding in a convoy north of Tikrit, near the Hamrin mountain range, Iraqi Gen. Haider Basri told state television.

On his official Facebook page, Raed Jabouri, the governor of Iraq’s Salahuddin province, posted a photograph of what he said was al-Douri’s body.

Hadi Ameri, head of the Badr Brigades, a pro-government Shiite militia, told local reporters that DNA analysis was underway to confirm the dead man’s identity.

On several occasions, alDouri has wrongly been reported captured or killed. Some social media postings said to be from his supporters denied the latest reports of his demise.

Elsewhere in Iraq on Friday, Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for a car bomb that exploded outside the heavily fortified U.S. Consulate compound in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant websites.

The State Department said no U.S. personnel were killed in the blast in the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

In Baghdad, bombings killed at least 40 people, news agencies reported.

The Tikrit area was the hometown of al-Douri and his colleague and mentor, Hussein. Both came from humble tribal backgrounds and became longtime loyalists of the Baath Party, which is now banned.

Many of Hussein’s closest aides hailed from Tikrit.

The Shiite-dominated government that came to power after the U.S. invasion convicted Hussein and hanged him in 2006.

Many members of Iraq’s Sunni minority viewed the execution of Hussein, a Sunni, as a sectarian lynching

Sunni-Shiite civil war convulsed the nation for years, and sectarian ten- sions still divide Iraq.

It had long been rumored that Ibrahim, said to be in his early 70s, was holed up in the northern city of Mosul, a former Baath Party stronghold.

Al-Douri has long been a mysterious figure.

Once Hussein was toppled, al-Douri reportedly ran loyalist Baath Party cells that spearheaded the Sunni Muslim insurgency against the U.S. occupation.

Al-Douri was said to be a pivotal interlocutor between pro-Hussein nationalists and the Sunni Islamist militants.

The two groups with greatly differing political agendas forged an alliance against the U.S. occupation and the Shiite-dominated government that succeeded

Dual campaigns

Hussein.

Al-Douri’s followers included former military officers and intelligence personnel.

Last year, al-Douri was reported to have formed an alliance with Islamic State militants who captured much of the Iraqi Sunni heartland in June. patrick.mcdonnell @tribpub.com