British claim to have found body of Chemical Ali
The US military, however, said yesterday it could not confirm that Ali Hassan al-Majid, the commander of Iraq’s southern front, had been killed in an air strike on his house.
In what would be a major blow to Saddam’s power structure, Sky News said British officers “have confirmed the death during a briefing earlier this morning ... that’s the news we are getting, that he is in fact dead”.
US and British forces earlier said Ali Hassan al-Majid was believed killed when US planes bombed his house in Basra on Saturday.
Iraq’s information minister earlier denied the bombs killed Majid, who gained his nickname after Saddam’s forces used poison gas on Kurdish villages in rebellious northern areas in 1988.
US-led forces had been hunting Majid across southern Iraq. Last Monday, US Marines launched a dawn raid on the town of Shatra after receiving intelligence he was there.
