Qusay, Saddam Hussein's younger son, was born in 1966 and was said to be the first in line to succeed his father.

Little was known about him. In official Iraqi news reports, Qusay, who was quieter than Uday, his elder brother, was identified as the supervisor of the Republican Guard.

He was in charge of the Special Security Organisation, the Special Republican Guard, and the elite Republican Guard, the units charged with protecting the regime.

Of Iraq's eight known intelligence services, three or four were thought to have been under Qusay's control since the early 1990s, including the Directorate General of Intelligence and the General Security forces.

In mid-May 2001, Qusay was elected to the 18-member Iraqi Regional Command, the executive leadership of the Ba'ath Party.

In 2001, he was named deputy of Ba'ath Party's Military Bureau.

Qusay was married to Sahar, the daughter of Maher Al-Rashid, a general, and they had two children but the marriage was later dissolved. The couple had two daughters.