US-led forces Sunday arrested an Iraqi exile who had proclaimed himself mayor of Baghdad because he "exercised authority he did not have", the US Central Command announced in a statement from the Iraqi capital.
Mohammed Mohsen al-Zubaidi was arrested this afternoon in downtown Baghdad "for his inability to support the coalition military authority and for exercising authority which was not his," said US military spokesman Captain David Connolly, speaking in Baghdad.
Soldiers arrested seven others found with al-Zubaidi, Connolly said without identifying them.
Al-Zubaidi, who has cast himself as a volunteer to help Iraq get back on its feet, never discouraged widespread rumours that he was appointed by US military authorities. American forces, however, have become increasingly adamant in recent days that they have no relationship with him.
"He was misrepresenting himself as mayor, a position which he was not appointed to," Connolly said.
Al-Zubaidi has been associated in the past with Ahmad Chalabi, a leader of the Iraqi National Congress, a London-based exile group supported by Washington.
Connolly accused al-Zubaidi of writing letters to utility plants telling them to await his instructions before restarting operations and firing some employees of the government electricity company who were returning to work.
He said he was unsure where the men were taken.
Al-Zubaidi, unknown in Baghdad before Saddam Hussein's regime fell earlier this month, set up shop at the Sheraton Hotel and opened offices in a country club next door, the Aluwiyah Club.
There, thousands of government workers have filled out forms to re-register for their jobs, believing al-Zubaidi was in charge. Many said they assumed he had been appointed by the Americans.
But the Americans have increasingly denied any connection to al-Zubaidi, and on Wednesday they began to threaten him with arrest.
Lt Col Alan King, commander of the 422nd Civil Affair Battalion in charge of restoring operations in Baghdad, said he had seen reports al-Zubaidi was distributing weapons and uniforms to followers.
"Anyone in uniform working with al-Zubaidi will be arrested as a combatant. The only people in Baghdad allowed to wear a uniform ... is who we authorise," King said Wednesday.
Al-Zubaidi, he said, "is running Baghdad as much as Saddam Hussein is."