IRAQ: Two high-ranking members of Saddam Hussein's government, including the head of the agency responsible for Iraq's banned weapons programmes, have been apprehended, the US military said yesterday.
Abdul Tawab Mullah Hwaish, a deputy prime minister and head of the Ministry of Military Industrialisation, was "now in coalition control", US Central Command said in a statement from its war headquarters in Qatar.
Also held was Taha Mohieddin Ma-rouf, a vice-president under Saddam and a member of his Revolutionary Command Council, the statement said.
A spokesman at Central Command said the two men were taken into custody on Thursday, but gave no further details.
Hwaish was 16th on a US list of the 55 most-wanted members of Saddam's administration, while Ma'rouf was 42nd.
The Military Industrialisation Ministry headed by Mr Hwaish was "the primary agency responsible for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programmes during the 1980s", according to Globalsecurity.org, a Washington-based think-tank.
Iraqi leaders have said they destroyed all weapons of mass destruction after the 1991 Gulf War, but suspicions that they had not were a key reason for the US-led invasion that began on March 20th.
So far, none of the suspected weapons has been found, although numerous suspicious sites have been and are being tested, military officials said.
Although one of only two vice-presidents, Mr Ma'rouf was not considered part of the former Iraqi leader's inner circle and rarely appeared in public or made statements.
He was the nine of diamonds and Mr Hwaish was the 10 of hearts in a deck of cards issued to US troops hunting the 55 most-wanted Iraqi leaders.
A US official in Washington said former transport minister Ahmed Murtada Ahmed Khalil had also been arrested in recent days. He was not on the most-wanted list and the official did not have details of his arrest.
ABC News reported that another former official had been captured and identified him as the 41st on the most-wanted list, Mizban Khider Hadi. He was a commander of the central Euphrates region and a top Baath Party leader.
Neither Centcom nor officials in Washington could confirm his arrest.
Saddam, the ace of spades, topped the wanted list. US officials do not know whether he is dead or alive.