On this day, 27 years ago, August 3, 1998 (June 12, 1998 in the lunar calendar), the assassination of Saddam Hussein's eldest son was solved. Iraq announced on August 3, 1998 that the assassination of President Saddam Hussein's eldest son, Uday, in Baghdad at the end of 1996 had been solved. Of the five suspects, two have been arrested and the other three are still at large. A statement issued by Iraq's security services accused the intelligence services of a "neighboring country" of planning and organizing the assassination plot. The statement said the two assassins captured by the security services were "Jalid, the murderer who fired at Uday, and his accomplice Nasser." Two other people involved in the murder have fled to a "neighboring" country, and the whereabouts of one person are unknown. According to Jalid's confession, they were recruited and provided with guns and ammunition by a "neighboring country" agent who called himself Mutahar. A statement from the Iraq security services said: "The intelligence services of a neighboring country were involved in this criminal operation, and... we have conclusive evidence to prove this. But reason prevents us from disclosing it easily, so that the competent authorities can inform the country through special channels and get a reply. At about 7 pm on December 12, 1996, Udai was attacked by unidentified militants while driving along the bustling Mansour Street in central Baghdad. Udai was shot 14 times and was immediately taken to hospital for treatment. In the following six months, Udai underwent several major surgeries and still cannot move his lower limbs freely. After the incident, several Iranian anti-government organizations in exile claimed responsibility for the incident. Britain's Independent newspaper said the attack was planned by Raad Haza, a distant relative of Saddam Hussein, to avenge his uncle Omar Haza. Omar was executed in 1990 for criticizing the current regime in Iraq. A Kuwait newspaper reported that a member of the Dulaimi family in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack. The member said he was seeking revenge for another member of his family who became a general. The general was arrested and executed by the authorities in November 1994 on charges of espionage. After Uday was injured, he made many speeches, publicly accusing Iran of being the mastermind behind the assassination plot. However, Iran flatly denied this. In January this year, Iraq Foreign Minister Sahaf sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Annan, accusing Iran of refusing to hand over the murderer to Iraq for trial and asking the United Nations to intervene. Uday, 34, is chairman of the Iraq Olympic Committee and owns a daily newspaper, a television station and several weekly newspapers. Although he does not hold an important position in the Iraq government, he is still regarded as one of the most important figures in Iraq. The remarks made by the Babylonian newspaper, which he owns, are often reproduced by Western news media. Uday's first public appearance since his injury was in October last year, when he appeared with a crutch in his right hand at a mass rally organized by the Iraq Olympic Committee and the Iraq Youth and Students Federation. On February 20 this year, Udai denied that he would succeed Saddam Hussein as president of Iraq after his death when interviewed by a reporter from Japan's Kyodo News Agency.