Former Iraqi PM al-Zubaydi Dies at 67

"BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Former Prime Minister Muhammad Hamza al-Zubaydi, one of the top Saddam Hussein-era leaders captured in Iraq, has died at a U.S. military hospital in Baghdad, an American military spokesman said Monday. He was 67.

Al-Zubaydi, a Shiite Muslim, died of heart failure Friday and the U.S. military is awaiting autopsy results to determine the cause of death, according to Lt. Col. Barry Johnson.

Al-Zubaydi, a retired Revolutionary Command Council member who led Saddam's forces in central Iraq during the initial stages of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, was one of the 55 most wanted members of Saddam's toppled regime and he was captured on April 20, 2003.

He was a leading member of Saddam Hussein's once-ruling Baath Party and a former transport minister.

Al-Zubaydi led the suppression of a Shiite uprising in southern Iraq following Iraq's defeat in the 1991 U.S.-led Gulf War that freed Kuwait from a seven-month Iraqi occupation.

He was also in charge of Iraqi forces in Kirkuk during the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war."
MyWay