Al-Jazeera airs Iraq most wanted footage

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated:

The news channel broadcast a video recording on Sunday of elite Republican Guards chief Saifeddin Fulayh Hassan Taha al-Rawi, who is still on the run.

DUBAI: The Al-Jazeera news channel broadcast a video recording on Sunday of what it said was one of the most wanted members of Saddam Hussein's regime still on the run.   

The Qatar-based network gave no date for the purported footage of elite Republican Guards chief Saifeddin Fulayh Hassan Taha al-Rawi, who was number 14 on the most wanted list drawn up by the US military for the 2003 invasion.   

Rawi, who carries a one million dollar US bounty on his head, was also jack of spades on the "deck of cards" of 55 most wanted suspects distributed by the Pentagon at the outset of the invasion.   

In the footage shown, Rawi accuses US forces of using neutron and phosphorus bombs during their assault on Baghdad airport ahead of the capture of the Iraqi capital.   

His face is difficult to identify due to low light, but he is seen sitting in what appears to be a living room wearing a black and white kefiya, the traditional Arab headdress.   

"The enemy used neutron and phosphorus weapons against Baghdad airport... there were bodies burnt to their bones," he says, adding that elite Iraqi soldiers "fought until they were martyred."   

The channel said that the clip was an excerpt from a longer interview, more of which it would air later.