Ali Hassan al-Majid, a fearedcousin of Saddam Hussein nicknamed "Chemical Ali" for overseeingpoison gas attacks that killed thousands, has been captured inIraq, the US military said today.
General John Abizaid, head of US Central Command,indicated that Majid may have played a role in the attacks onUS forces in Iraq while he was a fugitive.
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Ali Hassan al-Majid a.k.a.
'Chemical Ali' was reported captured by US troops today |
"I really wouldn't want to talk about the details of thecapture... But I would say that Chemical Ali has been active insome ways in influencing people...around him in a regional way,"General Abizaid told a Pentagon news briefing.
Majid was number five on a US list of the 55 most-wantedIraqis and the King of Spades in a US Army deck of cardsdepicting fugitives.
His capture, and the detention earlier this week of Saddam'svice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, will fuel US hopes thatits forces are closing in on Saddam himself.
The commander of the 4th Infantry Division, which is leadingthe hunt for Saddam around his hometown of Tikrit, said troopsswooped on a house in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, last night after getting information that Saddam - the Ace of Spadesin the US deck - was there.
"We found some relatives and associates but he was notthere," Major General Raymond Odierno told reporters at his basein one of Saddam's former palaces in Tikrit.
The United States has offered $25 million for informationleading to the capture or proof of death of Saddam. The deposeddictator's sons Uday and Qusay were killed last month in a U.S.raid on their hideout in the northern city of Mosul.