- (AFP) -- Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's half-brother,
Barzan al-Takriti, died this morning in a US bombing of his farm, in the
region of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a family friend told AFP.
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- Barzan had been placed under house arrest by Saddam on
March 5 in a presidential palace in Jadriya, near Baghdad airport, the
source said, requesting anonymity.
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- When US troops entered Baghdad, he fled to his farm in
Ramadi, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) away. "His family, living in
Europe, told me he died as a martyr this morning," the source said.
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- US Central Command said earlier Friday that Barzan had
been targeted by air strikes in Ramadi with six JDAM "smart bombs".
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- Saddam had put him under house arrest for contesting
his wish that the former Iraqi leader's younger son, Qusay, succeed him
should he be killed, the friend said.
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