US forces arrest ‘Chemical Ali’
Coalition troops in Iraq have finally captured Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as “Chemical Ali”.
US Central Command confirmed that the feared general was in the custody of coalition forces, but gave no further details about how he was captured or whether or not he is alive.
An unnamed US defence official told the French news agency AFP that he appeared to be “alive and well”.
Al-Majid was number five on the American list of 55 most wanted Iraqis and the king of spades in the pack of cards handed out to US soldiers.
He is a cousin of Saddam Hussein and wanted for his leading role in the gas attacks that killed thousands of Kurds in the town of Halabja, northern Iraq, in 1987.
Al-Majid also played a prominent role in the suppression of Kurdish and Shi’ite Muslim rebellions following the 1990 Gulf War.
Chemical Ali had been reported killed at the beginning of the war in Iraq after US forces bombed his Basra home, but coalition forces never found his body. It was later reported that he was in Baghdad at the time.
Former Iraqi vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan was also arrested earlier this week.
