Earlier on Friday, the Bahrain-based Akhbar al-Khaleej daily publication, citing a close member of al-Douri’s family, said the former vice president died at a hospital in Erbil city “with the knowledge of the Kurdish authorities.”

The Bahraini media outlet also said that Douri was buried in a cemetery likely near to his birthplace in Diyala’s Aldor town.

“The news on the death of Izzat al-Douri, the [former] vice president of the Baathist regime [leader] Saddam Hussein, has no basis and is far from reality,” Adil said in a statement.

On October 25, the Baath Party announced al-Douri, who held several positions in Iraq’s former regime, passed away at the age of 78.

Al-Douri was the most high-profile Baath official to successfully evade capture after the 2003 invasion of Iraq and was later confirmed as the new leader of the banned Iraq Baath Party in January 2007, following the execution of Saddam Hussein a month earlier.

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