Iraqi PM urges Syria to secure border

IRAQI Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said yesterday that foreign fighters regularly slip into Iraq from Syria and called on authorities there to do more to stop them as five US troops were killed.

Meanwhile, it was reported that a top-level aide to Saddam Hussein has died. Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri has been at large since Saddam was ousted.

After Saddam was captured, al-Douri became the most-wanted Iraqi still at large, and a $10 million (€8.5 million) bounty was placed on his head. The number six in the US most-wanted list is also believed to have had a role in the insurgency in Iraq.