SADDAM HUSSEIN’S most feared henchman, “Chemical” Ali Hassan al-Majid, died after missing a chance to escape when the first bomb to hit his compound failed to explode, it emerged yesterday.

The airstrike, called in by SAS spotters, scored a direct hit, but the Harrier jumpjet’s bomb had a faulty fuse.

It gave the Iraqi President’s cousin up to nine minutes to escape the scene, military sources said.

But the man linked above all others to Iraq’s use of chemical weapons after ordering the gassing of the Kurds at Halabja failed to take his chance and was killed by a second Harrier.

His body was identified by a local policeman, but an official announcement has yet to be made by US Central Command, which is waiting for a more formal identification. However, British Armed Forces in the area are convinced that he was killed.

At a news conference Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, said: “We believe the reign of terror of Chemical Ali has come to an end.” Addressing the Iraqi people, he said: “He will never again terrorise you or your families.”

A well-placed source close to the front line said yesterday: “Local intelligence was received which led to special forces teams being able to positively identify him in a particular building.

“SAS troops then marked the target using laser designation devices and called the air and artillery attacks, which killed him.”

Colonel Hugh Blackman, of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, who was one of the first British officers into central Basra, said yesterday that local police had confirmed that al-Majid was dead. The corpses of his bodyguards, who were killed alongside him, have also been identified.

Al-Majid was chosen by Saddam to command the Iraqi military campaign against British and US forces in the southern region. He was said to have been meeting senior officers in a three-storey building in central Basra when the bombs and shells struck.

Word of his death among his own ranks is said to have set the fall of Basra in motion, with regular troops fleeing northwards as the British forces staged their lightning armoured thrust into the heart of Basra on Sunday.

The frontline source added: “Special forces’ success in taking out Chemical Ali and other key military figures may yet turn out to be one of the pivotal moments of the war.”

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