Iraqi military claims to kill former top deputy to Saddam Hussein

The Iraqi military has killed a former top deputy to Saddam Hussein who had become sympathetic to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, The Associated Press reports. 

{mosads}Iraqi soldiers and allied forces reportedly killed Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri during a Friday morning operation, Salahuddin provincial Governor Raed al-Jabouri told the news service. That operation is alleged to have taken place near Tikrit, the city that’s become a flashpoint of violence between ISIS militants and Iraqi forces.

After spending years on the run, his name reemerged in news reports as part of the group of Iraqi militants who took Tikrit in 2014 and hoped to wrestle control from then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Many of those militants joined with ISIS. 

The AP says that the government released a graphic photo that it claims is al-Douri’s dead body.

Coalition forces have made strides in taking back Tikrit from ISIS militants, according to multiple news reports, and could be targeting Mosul, one of the largest Iraqi cities and a stronghold for ISIS.