U.S. military denies report of capture of top Saddam aide

KIRKUK, Iraq – U.S. troops conducted a big raid near the northern city of Kirkuk on Tuesday, but a military spokesman denied that a top former deputy of Saddam Hussein was captured during the operation.

A member of Iraq's Governing Council said Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri – the top Iraqi fugitive after Saddam – was the target of the raid.

"We get our information from the 173rd (Airborne Brigade), and the 173rd is saying they don't have him," said Sgt. Robert Cargie, a spokesman for the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division.



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In other violence Tuesday, a U.S. soldier from the 4th Infantry Division was killed near Samarra, the site of weekend fighting between American troops and guerrillas, the military said.

Mowaffak al-Rubaie, a member of the U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council, told the Arabic television station Al-Jazeera that those killed or captured in the Kirkuk operation included a "big fish."



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