Fugitive Iraqi militant leader Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who was right-hand man to Iraq's ex-leader Saddam Hussein, has been killed, Iraqi officials say.
They say he died in fighting in Salahuddin province, north of Baghdad. His supporters have denied the claim.Al-Douri, 72, led the Naqshbandi Order insurgent group, a key force behind the recent rise of Islamic State (IS).
He was deputy to Saddam Hussein, who was ousted when US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003 and executed in 2006.
Al-Douri was regarded as the most high-profile official of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to successfully evade capture after the invasion, and had a large bounty on his head for years.
He was the King of Clubs in the famous pack of cards the US issued of wanted members of Saddam Hussein's regime after its defeat.
Body picture
There have been reports of al-Douri's death or capture before. The now dissolved Baath party denied the latest claim.However, al-Arabiya TV showed a picture of what it said was al-Douri's body.
Salahuddin governor Raed al-Jabouri said he had died during an operation by soldiers and allied Shia militiamen east of Tikrit - a city that was recaptured by the government two weeks ago.
Al-Douri is believed to have played a key role in masterminding a major offensive by Islamic State last year.
The group seized swathes of territory in eastern Syria and across northern and western Iraq, in an effort to establish an Islamic "caliphate".
But in recent months Iraqi forces - backed by US-led air strikes since August - have recaptured 25% to 30% of the territory initially lost to IS.
The jihadist group still controls large areas, including the second city of Mosul, in the north
On Friday a car bomb reportedly exploded near the US consulate in Irbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region.
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