Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Saddam's deputy thought killed in Iraq

A longtime leader of Iraq's Sunni insurgency and a former deputy of Saddam Hussein was reportedly killed in a hail of gunfire near the home town of the late dictator early Friday.

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the red-headed former army commander has been a constant in Iraq's brutal recent history. A regime stalwart, he helped bring Saddam to power in a 1968 coup, was architect of the notorious campaign that suppressed Iraqi Kurds with chemical weapons in the 1980s, was a thorn in the side of the US occupation and most recently joined forces with jihadi militants to fight the Shia-led government.

His death, if confirmed, would be a symbolic victory for the coalition of US-backed Iraqi armed forces and volunteer militias seeking to turn back the tide against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Isis, as it struggles to halt the group's advance to the west of Baghdad.

Reports of Douri's death have surfaced repeatedly since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, when he was labelled the King of Clubs on the list of former regime loyalists sought by security forces and a $10m bounty was placed on his head.

Photos circulating online on Friday showed the corpse of a red-bearded man bearing a strong resemblance to the 72-year-old, who has long been seen as leader of the armed uprising that fought US troops and waged war against Shia-led governments after the American occupation. The Iraqi authorities were carrying out DNA tests to confirm his identity.

Born near Saddam's home town, Douri was a staunch ally of the dictator. He served as Iraq's vice-president and succeeded his patron as head of the Ba'ath party after his execution in late 2006. He evaded capture for years as he allegedly plotted attacks against US and allied Iraqi armed forces.

Latterly Douri was thought to be leader of Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order, known widely by its Arabic acronym JRTN, a Sufi-Islam-influenced militant group that had joined forces with the Isis as it invaded northern and northwestern Iraq last year.

But his death could strengthen Isis, weakening nationalist Iraqi Sunni insurgent factions and favouring Islamists sharing the jihadis' aim of establishing a modern-day Caliphate. Douri spoke out repeatedly against Isis's excesses and tensions had erupted between the two camps almost immediately after the collapse of Baghdad's rule in northern Iraq last June.

"His death, if confirmed, wouldn't mean anything for Iraq's security because Douri and his contingent grew very irrelevant for IS [Isis} control of areas," said Aymenn Tamimi, a researcher specialising in Iraqi insurgent groups at Herzliya University. "There was initially co-ordination. But IS didn't tolerate JRTN. They very quickly arrested and killed and co-opted them. JRTN as an operational force wasn't doing much."

Brig Gen Haider al Basri, commander of the 51st Brigade of the Iraqi army, said in an interview with Iraqi state television that Douri was killed in a gunfight after his vehicle convoy came upon a patrol of fighters from the Shia-dominated volunteer Popular Mobilisation force early on Friday morning in a district of the Hamrin mountains to the east of Tikrit.

"The vehicle was passing through the western part of the area of Hamrin, along with other vehicles. [Douri] was shot," Brig Gen Basri told state television. "Thank God his wounds were severe. The criminal was killed on the spot along with his nine guards."

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