"The messages I'm hearing are that indeed they have found his body," Group Captain Al Lockwood told CNN.

But Lockwood said he had not yet confirmed Ali's death through the military chain of command and other British officials told AFP they too were unable to provide confirmation.

One of Ali's bodyguards was confirmed dead on Sunday, a US Central Command official said.

The corpse had been identified in the wreckage of Saturday's strike on Ali's house, he said.

Ali, a cousin and close aide to President Saddam Hussein, won his grisly nickname for ordering gas attacks that killed thousands of Kurds in 1988.

SPACE.WIRE