Iraq Watch: November 11, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Word came Friday regarding the possible death of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a former high ranking official under deposed leader Saddam Hussein and the senior most Iraqi Baath party figure still at large.

The 63-year-old al-Douri, who had a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture, has long been rumored to suffer from leukemia. He was believed to have played at least some role in the violent insurgency - especially in its early stages - currently plaguing Iraq.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the deaths of five U.S. service members on Friday. Two U.S. soldiers were killed by small-arms fire yesterday while conducting combat operations in Khaldiyah. A U.S. Marine was killed yesterday in an IED explosion in Karabilah, near the Syrian border. Two additional U.S. soldiers were killed Friday in a traffic accident northwest of Kirkuk.

In further violence, three Iraqi police officers were killed Friday when their patrol was ambushed in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of the capital. Separately, an Iraqi policeman was killed and three wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in Qamishli, located 40 miles south of Baghdad.

Elsewhere, insurgents opened fire outside of the Omani Embassy in Baghdad on Friday killing two people, including an embassy employee. Also in Baghdad, the executed bodies of two unidentified people were discovered in the capital city's western Ghazaliya district.