Baghdad, Iraq ? Conflicting claims emerged Saturday over the reported death of Saddam Hussein’s chief lieutenant – believed by the United States to have played the key role in organizing the insurgency and the highest-ranking fugitive at large from the former regime.

A Baathist Web site reported his death Saturday, but another Web site, also purporting to carry statements from the banned party, maintained Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri was still alive and apologized for the death report. A relative in Iraq said the family was unsure.

That statement appeared Saturday on a Web site believed run by Salah al-Mukhtar, who was Saddam’s ambassador to India and head of the External Information Department.

But a later statement on a second Web site said “we apologize from our brothers and sisters for publishing a statement announcing the death of brother Izzat al-Douri, may God extend his life.”

“We have learned a while ago from the dear brother Salah al-Mukhtar that the announcement of death was baseless and that warrior Izzat al-Douri is fine.”

However, the Web site believed maintained by al-Mukhtar was still running the announcement that al-Douri had died. During the years Saddam was in power, Baathist statements avoided using terms like “brothers and sisters” in favor of “comrade.”