Three top Iraqi leaders are believed to have been killed, ABCNEWS reported.
Two deputies of Saddam Hussein, Taha Yasin Ramadan, Izzat Ibrahim al Douri, and Ali Hassan Majid, a cousin of Saddam's known as "Chemical Ali" - are believed to have died in the opening "decapitation attack," Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, a Shiite Iraqi opposition leader in Iran said Friday that Majid, who is also commander of Iraq's southern military region, has taken refuge in a hospital in the southern city of Nasiriyah. "Chemical Ali" moved his command to the hospital in Nasiriyah, 208 kilometers northwest of Basra, ahead of the expected US attacks, said Mohsen Hakim, son of Abdul Aziz Hakim, the second-in-command of the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq based in Iran.
Majid, believed by US intelligence to be the architect of the 1988 gas attacks on Kurds in northern Iraq, was chosen last week by Saddam to head the southern region as part of a reshuffling of Iraq's military command.
Mohsen Hakim also told AFP that the Iraqi army has killed the son of a tribe leader in southern Iraq for refusing to cooperate. (Albawaba.com)
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