Iraqi Kurds near Mosul handed over to US-led forces a member of Central Command's list of most-wanted Iraqis, Brig Gen Vincent Brooks said yesterday.
"Samir Abul Aziz al-Najim, one of the top 55 leaders of the regime, was handed over to coalition forces by Iraqi Kurds near Mosul in northern Iraq," Gen Brooks told a news briefing.
Najim was a Baath Party regional command chairman for east Baghdad and listed as No 24 on the US most-wanted list. He is the fourth person on the list in US custody.
"We know that he certainly has an insight on how the Baath Party Central Committee worked," Gen Brooks said, adding that there were some indications, but no confirmation, that Najim may have been posted to the north of the country to take command of some military operations there.
On Thursday, US-led forces captured Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, President Saddam Hussein's half-brother and former head of Iraqi intelligence in Baghdad.
Barzan was No 52 and the five of clubs in a pack of cards distributed to US troops featuring the most-wanted Iraqis. Saddam and his two sons, Qusay and Uday, are at the top of the list.
US officials say they do not know if they are dead or alive after two airstrikes aimed at killing Saddam, but they said the success of the war did not depend on finding them.
Yesterday an Arab television network, Abu Dhabi TV, broadcast footage of what it said was Saddam Hussein saluting a throng of chanting supporters in Baghdad on April 9th, the day the capital fell to US forces.
The state-run channel said the pictures were taken in the northern Aadhamiya district, and that the tape had been obtained by its Baghdad correspondent from undisclosed sources.
A US intelligence official said the United States would be looking at the tape to determine whether Saddam had indeed survived weeks of relentless bombing of the capital.
"We will be reviewing the tape to determine whether it is authentic or not. At the moment we don't know," said a US intelligence official in Washington, adding that the United States did not know whether Saddam was alive or dead.
Several tapes of the elusive leader, who is reported to have several "doubles", have been produced during the US-led war, but there have been doubts whether the images are truly Saddam. - (Reuters)