U.S. soldiers and Kurds are stepping up the hunt for Saddam Hussein's number two, Izzat Ibrahim, who they claim is sick and in hiding in the Mosul region of northern Iraq.
"Izzat Ibrahim is in the Mosul area, he is sick, we are hunting him," said a top official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), who captured Taha Yassin Ramadan, vice president of the toppled regime.
"We have received information that he is around Mosul," said commander Bruska Shaways, deputy to Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Massoud Barzani, and who played the intermediary in negotiations for the surrender of former defence minister Sultan Hasheem Ahmad last week.
In recent days, the U.S. 101st Airborne Division has carried out several operations to try to snare Ibrahim, Kurdish sources said, cited by AFP.
"For four or five days now there have been sweeps," a source close to the KDP said. "Coalition forces went to the Qaraqosh area (east of Mosul), to Rabiah (near the Syrian border), and Tall Afar," in the west, said the source.
However, Ibrahim, who was deputy chairman of Iraq's ruling Revolution Command Council, enjoys tribal and family contacts in the region and is still at large.
It should be noted that Al Arab Al Youm reported earlier this week that negotiations were underway and had made considerable progress for the surrender of Ibrahim. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
