KIRKUK: Iraq will test the body of a man killed in clashes with pro-government forces who may be Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri, late president Saddam Hussein’s long-fugitive deputy, officials said Friday.

Douri was vice president at the time of the 2003 US-led invasion. Nicknamed “The Iceman” for his humble origins selling blocks of ice, he was the King of Clubs in the US Army’s deck of cards of most-wanted Iraqis.

He was suffering from leukemia at the time of the invasion, and has previously been reported dead only to resurface in audio and video messages.

Salaheddin province Gov. Raad Al-Juburi said fighting in the province’s Hamreen mountains area “killed 12 terrorists, among them Izzat Al-Douri,” but said testing was needed to provide confirmation.

Hadi Al-Ameri, commander of the powerful Badr militia, said that 12 members of the Islamic State group were killed in the fighting, “and one of the bodies carries the features of Douri.” He said: “We will test to confirm that the body belongs to Douri.”

And Ahmed Al-Krayim, head of the Salaheddin provincial council, said a body resembling Douri had been recovered in the Hamreen area, but had yet to be identified.

Pictures circulated online showed the body of a man who bears some resemblance to Douri, but with a bushy red-dyed beard instead of the trimmed moustache he sported while in office. Senior members of Saddam’s Baath party, to which Douri belonged, have also reportedly played a major role in IS.

Meanwhile, the IS group has claimed responsibility for a car bomb blast on Friday that killed three persons close to the US Consulate in the Iraqi Kurdish capital of Irbil, the US-based SITE monitoring group said, quoting an IS-linked Twitter account. No consulate staff were hurt, the US State Department said.