Saddam henchman escapes raid by Iraqi forces
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| Izzat Ibrahim al Douri during the Saddam era. |
Izzat Ibrahim al Douri, the most wanted member of Saddam Hussein's regime and insurgent leader, narrowly escaped a raid on his hideout in the northern city of Tikrit on Friday. Al Douri was organizing meetings with the local insurgency, the Malaysia Sun reported. Police found computers and documentation with important information on the insurgency and al Qaeda.
Police and local security forces from the Tikrit Awakening Council surrounded al Douri's hideout in the village of Al Sada Al Naeem on Thursday after receiving "confirmed intelligence," Abdullah Hussein Jabara, the deputy governor of Salahadin province, told Voices of Iraq. "The forces did not find al-Douri, but seized documents with information on the al-Qaeda network and other militias, their activities and the techniques used to conduct their operations in northern Iraq," Jabara said. "The documents also referred to the groups' objectives which involved attacking Iraqi military and police forces, but contained no reference to U.S. troops."
Al Douri "managed to evade capture by hiding in a secret space," the Malaysia Sun reported. Police "later pursued a car in which al-Douri was believed to have been traveling, but the driver managed to escape," Voices of Iraq reported. "They later found the car abandoned, but containing a computer with important information, small arms and other equipment," a source told the news agency.
In early October, al Douri was appointed the leader of the Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation, a grouping of largely defunct Sunni insurgent groups. Al Douri and his new group explicitly ignored al Qaeda in Iraq. Al Douri pledged bayat – an oath of allegiance – to Abu Musab al Zarqawi, al Qaeda in Iraq's former commander, in early 2004. Al Douri denounced al Qaeda in Iraq in August 2007.
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