London, June 29: A senior aide to Saddam Hussein, number 12 on America's list of the 55 most wanted Iraqis, has been hiding in a small town in the desert after faking his death and holding a mock funeral, a London-based newspaper has reported. The paper said it had established that Sayf al-Din Fulayyih Hassan Taha al-Rawi, the Chief of Staff of the Republican Guard, was hiding hundreds of kilometres from Baghdad.
As the war ended, Hassan spread a rumour that he had been killed in an attack on Baghdad airport, said the report, adding that his comments had been relayed to the paper "through reliable intermediaries". The newspaper said through these intermediaries, Hassan had described a dramatic moment when now-toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein warned his sons they must accept defeat and go their separate ways.
Hassan claimed he has had no contact with any of the three since, but believed that Saddam has stayed on in Iraq. Hassan also reportedly disclosed that Saddam, Qusay and Uday had a narrow escape when they gathered secretly at Hassan's house in Mansour, a wealthy residential district of Baghdad on April 7 as the war reached its climax.
Ten minutes after the meeting broke up and Saddam left, US forces dropped four powerful bombs, which hit a block of neighbours' houses in an attempt to kill the Iraqi leader. Hassan's house was undamaged, however. Bureau Report