Kirkuk, Dec 02: The US military launched a massive search operation around Iraq's Northern Oil Centre overnight in its intensifying hunt for Saddam Hussein's deputy, Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, a senior police official said today. "It's the biggest search operation ever launched around here," the official in Kirkuk told, asking not be identified.
"They're searching for Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri and other top officials of the former regime following intelligence reports he was in the region," said the official.
The operation was concentrated on the town of Hawijah, 45 Km to the West of Kirkuk, and the village of Rashad, 60 Km to the South, he added.
Duri is Saddam's longtime deputy and alleged paymaster of many attacks on US-led coalition troops. He is the highest-ranking official of the former regime still at large, apart from the ousted President himself. Earlier this month, US commanders posted a USD 10-million bounty on Duri's head and sent in warplanes to destroy two of his homes near the town of Samarra further south that they charged had been used to mount attacks. Bureau Report