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British found chemical alis body { April 7 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,931563,00.html?=rsshttp://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,931563,00.html?=rss
12.30pm update
British forces 'find Chemical Ali's body'
Staff and agencies
Monday April 7, 2003
British forces today claimed to have found the body of Ali Hassan al-Majid, the man known as Chemical Ali after ordering a poison gas attack that killed thousands of Kurds in 1988.
Major Andrew Jackson, of the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment, told the Associated Press that his superiors had confirmed the death during a briefing earlier in the day. However, a spokesman for British central command later told Reuters that the identity of the body had not yet been confirmed.
The defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, said that there was "some strong indication" al-Majid had been killed in a raid on Friday night.
"I can't yet absolutely confirm the fact that he is dead, but that will be certainly my best judgment of the situation," Mr Hoon told reporters in London.
Maj Jackson said that the body was found along with that of al-Majid's bodyguard and the head of Iraqi intelligence services in Basra.
Al-Majid was a first cousin of the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, who had entrusted him with the defence of southern Iraq against invading US and British forces.
One of the most brutal members of President Saddam's inner circle, al-Majid led a 1988 campaign against rebellious Kurds in northern Iraq, in which whole villages were wiped out. An estimated 100,000 Kurds, mostly civilians, were killed during that campaign.
He also has been linked to the bloody crackdown on Shia Muslims in southern Iraq following an uprising after the 1991 Gulf war. He served as governor of Kuwait during Iraq's seven-month occupation of the emirate in 1990-1991.
Al-Majid was apparently killed when two coalition aircraft used laser-guided munitions to attack his home in Basra this weekend.
Group Capt Al Lockwood, spokesman for British forces in the Gulf, said that the death of Chemical Ali would show the people of southern Iraq "that the regime is finished. It is over, and liberation is here".
British troops yesterday sent an armoured column deep into Basra. On Monday, they followed with light-armoured infantry: 50 to 75 vehicles and 700 troops.
Maj Jackson said that the discovery of al-Majid's body was one of the reasons that the British had decided to move their infantry into the city. With the leadership gone, resistance might fall apart.
Al-Majid was a warrant officer and motorcycle messenger in the army before Saddam's Ba'ath party led a coup in 1968. He was promoted to general and served as defence minister from 1991-95, as well as being a regional party leader.
In 1988, as the Iran-Iraq war was coming to an end, he commanded a scorched-earth campaign, known as Anfal, to wipe out a Kurdish rebellion in northern Iraq. Later, he boasted about the attacks, including the March 16 1988 poison gas strike on the village of Halabja, in which an estimated 5,000 people died.
After the 1991 Shia uprising was crushed, Iraqi opposition groups released a video which they said had been smuggled out of southern Iraq.
In the video, which was shown on several Arab TV networks, al-Majid was seen executing captured rebels with pistol shots to the head, and kicking others in the face as they sat on the ground.
Kani Hejar, an Iraqi Kurd now living in London, said that Iraqis would welcome the news if it was confirmed.
"Ali was Saddam's shadow in Iraq, and the most hated man in Iraq," Mr Hejar said.
"This will encourage people to rise up ... People are so scared of him they will only rejoice and believe it when they see his body.
"We want to see his body captured ... I know it is not done on western media to show corpses on TV, but we have to show the proof to people that he is dead."
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