Iraq arrests senior Saddam-era official

Baghdad: Iraqi forces have arrested Abd Al Baqi Al Sa’adoon, one of the most senior officials from Saddam Hussain’s regime still at large, Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi said on Saturday.

“The intelligence service was able to arrest the wanted man Abd Al Baqi Al Sa’adoon,” Abadi announced in a televised speech.

A senior intelligence officer said Sa’adoon was arrested on Thursday “without resistance” in the northern province of Kirkuk following an operation that lasted more than a year.

Sa’adoon held various senior positions in Saddam’s Baath party, and the US military had previously said he was wanted for crimes against humanity committed Dooring the suppression of a 1999 Shiite uprising.

He was the five of diamonds in the US military deck of cards picturing the most-wanted officials from Saddam’s regime.

Ezzat Ebrahim Al Doori, the most senior Baathist still at large, was said to have been killed earlier this year, but Iraq later admitted it lacked the necessary DNA results to confirm his identity.

And an audio recording attributed to Doori was subsequently released that contained references to events after his supposed death.