No. 2 most-wanted Iraqi still at large, US says
( 2003-12-03 11:00) (CNN.com)
Detained man's similar name caused false early report
U.S. forces in Iraq have indeed captured a man named "al-Duri" as earlier news reports announced, but he is not the second-most-wanted former Iraqi official the troops have been hunting, the U.S. military said Tuesday.
The reports about the capture of a top member of deposed President Saddam Hussein's regime were false, Maj. Robert Cargie of the 4th Infantry Division said.
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| One of four large bronze busts of Saddam Hussein is dismantled on Tuesday in Baghdad. The cost of the sculptures' removal is said to be about $27,000. [AP] |
Cargie spoke with Maj. Doug Vincent of the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Kirkuk, who said forces conducting overnight operations had not caught Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, the former vice chairman of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council and a former member of Saddam's inner circle.
Sources said an Iraqi police official identified the captured man as Saad Mohammed al-Duri.
Wire service reports quote the police chief as saying Mohammed is a "private secretary" to Ibrahim.
Pentagon sources indicated he might be Ibrahim's "personal physician."
Ibrahim is No. 6 on the U.S. military's list of most-wanted Iraqis, and the king of clubs in the deck of cards issued to U.S. troops to help identify wanted regime members. He and Saddam are the only two among the top six still at large.
A spokesman for U.S. Central Command confirmed that the confusion was created because both men's names end with "al-Duri."
The spokesman said dozens of people were taken into custody in raids across Iraq on Tuesday, and that both Ibrahim and Saddam remain at the top of the most-wanted list.
Soldier killed by bomb blast
A U.S. military spokesman reported that a soldier died Tuesday after a bomb hit his convoy, as debate continues about the number of Iraqi casualties resulting from U.S. forces' response to weekend ambushes.
The soldier's convoy, from the 555th Engineers Group of the 4th Infantry Division, initially called in the wrong location, delaying the arrival of a medical team to evacuate the soldier, coalition officials said. The soldier was dead when he arrived at a nearby military medical facility.
The incident took place south of Samarra, about 75 miles north of Baghdad, the same location as the weekend ambushes.
Tuesday's death was the 441st fatality of U.S. servicemembers in Iraq, the 303rd in hostile action.
No reliable estimate of Iraqi deaths during the course of the conflict is available. The Associated Press reported an estimated 3,240 civilian Iraqi deaths between March 20 and April 20, but the AP said the figure was based on records of only half of Iraq's hospitals and that the actual number was thought to be significantly higher.
U.S. forces successfully repelled simultaneous ambushes during the weekend, resulting in the deaths of a number of Iraqis.
The attacks occurred during currency exchanges in Samarra. U.S. military intelligence officials on the scene said 46 insurgents were killed, 18 wounded and 11 taken prisoner.
U.S. soldiers remove a comrade's body Tuesday after an attack outside Samarra.
Those numbers differed slightly with what was reported in Baghdad, where coalition spokesman Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said 54 Iraqis were killed in the battle.
Kimmitt said the casualty reports were "visual battlefield reports ... from soldiers involved in the engagement."
Iraqi police in Samarra said they could confirm only eight deaths, including an elderly Iranian man believed to be on a pilgrimage to a shrine in Samarra. The Iraqis said at least 50 people were wounded.
Other developments
Tuesday, an Iraqi construction company removed the first of four massive busts of Saddam from atop the Republican Palace, the Baghdad home of the U.S.-backed coalition's chief civilian administrator, L. Paul Bremer. A supervisor with the Iraqi construction team removing the busts said his crew was happy about the job. "Taking Saddam down from his palace, that means a lot to us," the supervisor said. "Saddam used to say 'the problem is in your head, so we will chop it off.' No problem. That's what we are doing to him."
Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said Tuesday during his visit to Iraq that the United Nations should take a lead role in resolving a disagreement about how an Iraqi national assembly will be formed. The U.S.-backed coalition and the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council want regional caucuses to select that assembly. Iraq's most senior Shiite Muslim cleric wants a direct vote to choose the assembly.
(Courtesy to CNN.com)
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