to the most wanted man for the Iraqi government after the political change in 2003.

Raed al-Jubouri, the governor of Salahuddin told “Shafaq News", that ”al-Duri is the last man who remained of Saddam's men after the US invasion .”

According to US Department of Defense , al-Duri is a goal of value, noting that there is no assurances so far about his death.

Shafaq News has published images of al-Duri’s body after Iraqi officials said that it is of al-Duri.

Al-Duri’s death - who was born in 1942 and was one of the senior officials in the Ba'ath Party - was announced several times before.

After the invasion of Iraq in 2003 , he was in the sixth rank on the list of the US Army, which includes 55 most-wanted Iraqis and offered an reward worth ten million dollars reward for information leading to his arrest. US officials have accused him of organizing the insurgency that peaked between 2005 and 2007.

No one was able to arrest him during the long US occupation at a time when Saddam’s others assistants were killed or brought to trial as a sectarian civil war engulfed the country.

Just seeing al-Duri with his Red Mustache who was often wearing Iraqi military uniforms was enough to terrify Iraqis after they suffered under what was known as the Republic of Fear.

After a long absence, the Iraqis suddenly heard what appeared to be the voice of the man who played a role in many of the worst atrocities committed against the Shiites , Kurds and Sunnis.

The audio message attributed to al-Duri called all Iraqis to unite efforts in order to "liberate" the country.

This time , al-Duri looked standing on the side of the Islamic state and praised the Sunni insurgents who have seized large parts of the country and declared the establishment of the caliphate in the end.

In spite of his age and his deteriorated health as reported in reports but it is believed that al-Duri is the leader of Baathist armed group and the Naqshbandi Army, one of several groups supporting the Islamic state.

Some analysts speculate that Saddam Hussein after a brief period of hiding put the basis of insurgency and the dissemination of his assistants, including the man that he have the greatest confidence in , Izzat al-Duri to plan for the return of the Baath Party.

But analysts said that the divisions among Baathists led to the corruption of those ambitious plans and saw an opportunity in al-Duri to organize militants of the Islamic state, which has heavy weapons and tanks.

The voice that resembles al-Duri in previous recordings issued in his name called Iraqis to join the ranks of the insurgents who said they liberated half of the country.

He added that the "liberation" of Baghdad is close and that everyone should contribute to the maximum energy to complete what he said was the country's liberation.

Al-Duri has been described as the mastermind of the rebellion against the Shi'ite-led government. But didn’t give a tangible evidence of that as signs emerged that the alliance of interests was short-lived.

Residents and relatives said that during the three weeks of control over Mosul by militants of the Islamic state , the militants began arresting former senior officers in the army and Baath Party members.

An intelligence official in the Interior Ministry said he believes that the Baathists, including al-Duri had funded Islamic state but radical jihadists overthrew them in the end.

The official added, "At the beginning of 2014 and since then there has been a temporary marriage between military councils (Baathists) and ISIS (Islamic state). It was very short."

"I think that Baathists were able to use ISIS to reach Baghdad, but the extremists used Baathists to win the support of the people."

However, Iraqi officials said that the former military officials that they had ruled in the past are men like al-Duri acted as an advisers to the Islamic state organization who followed the rules of the game practiced by Saddam by assassinations and torture to deal with opponents.

Mosul residents say that the Islamic state and its spies cells are everywhere in the same way that they operate under the Iraqi state officials such as al-Duri.

Al-Duri was one of the main planners of the coup that brought Baath Party to power in 1968 and quickly became important in the ranks of the party.

In 1998, he survived an assassination attempt in Karbala city which is the home to many of the Shiite majority, that he suppressed.

But it seems that luck was not with him this time when a group of security forces surrounded the area after receiving information that the "terrorists" are in it.

The governor of Salahuddin , Raed al-Jubouri said that the group included three suicide bombers blew themselves up and the body of al-Duri was among the bodies

But a spokesman for the Baath Party, denied the death of al-Duri.

Izzat al-Duri began his life in his hometown al-Dur near Tikrit city, descended from one of its towns (the village of Awja, which is Saddam Hussein's hometown).

He participated with Saddam Hussein in what is known as a revolution of 17th of July, 1968, which overthrew then president of Iraq, Abdul Rahman Arif and founded the Baath regime led by Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr.

Al-Duri had participated in 1993 in the "faith campaign", which was sponsored by the Iraqi government designed to encourage the demand for Islamic values ​​in Iraqi society.

The United States has offered a reward of ten million dollars for anyone who would inform the place of Izzat al-Duri accused of being one of the masterminds led insurgency operations around the cities of Samarra and Tikrit.