Marines target 'Chemical Ali'
US Marines targeted Saddam Hussein's notorious henchman "Chemical Ali" in a raid using precision-guided bombs, tanks and helicopter gunships, it was revealed today.
They launched a raid on Shatra, a town just north of Nassiriya, and their targets included Ali Hassan al-Majid, a cousin of the Iraqi leader.
Al-Majid was responsible for using chemical weapons against Kurds in Iraq in 1988 and remains one of Saddam's most trusted and feared aides.
He was believed to be heavily involved in organising the current paramilitary resistance to coalition forces.
The US Marines struck in Shatra at dawn after tip-offs that Al-Majid and other senior Baath Party members were there.
They were believed to be organising raids on US supply lines.
The Marines who carried out the raid had been heading north for Baghdad but turned round to focus on Shatra to help secure the supply lines, military sources said.
Reuters reporter Sean Maguire, embedded with the US Marines, said precision bombs hit four targets in Shatra before tanks, armoured personnel carriers and helicopter gunships firing machine guns moved in.
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