US officials were questioning former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz yesterday after his overnight surrender, in the hope he would shed light on the fate of deposed president Saddam Hussein.
His capture, along with that of senior intelligence official Farouk Hijazi near Iraq's border with Syria yesterday, marked further progress on the US campaign to arrest former regime officials.
Aziz, the highest profile member of Iraq's ousted regime to fall into US hands so far, "surrendered to coalition forces overnight," Lieut Yvonne Lukson said at the US Central Command's war headquarters in Qatar.
As the fluent-English speaking foreign minister during the 1991 Gulf War, Aziz came to be one of the best-known figures of Saddam's Iraq, but he was only 43rd on a list of 55 most wanted Iraqis and was not considered a member of Saddam's innermost circle.
"He is being questioned," said Lieut Herb Josey. "He was a long-term confidant of Saddam Hussein," he added, indicating that US forces hope Aziz will help determine the ousted president's whereabouts.
"It's very possible he may know the status of Saddam and other regime officials, potentially the location of other regime officials, and where they may be hiding," said a Pentagon official.
Saddam, who was personally targeted by at least two US air strikes amid the three-week bombardment of Baghdad, remains unaccounted for.
President Bush told NBC television the US was seeking to confirm evidence that Saddam was dead or "at very minimum was severely wounded" to be sure of the ousted leader's fate.
The capture of Aziz, an urbane 67-year-old for years the international face of Iraq under Saddam, clearly pleased Mr Bush, who flashed a broad smile and gave a big "thumbs-up" when questioned by White House reporters about the capture.
Neighbours of Aziz's sister-in-law in a posh Baghdad suburb described a lightning special forces raid which ended with several people being driven away in luxury cars. They said they believed the former minister to be among them.
"The US soldiers used night vision equipment. The electricity went down and some of the phones went down. After they brought a GMC jeep with black windows and a white BMW and some people got into them," said Mohammed Hillal, who lives opposite the house.
Hijazi - according to US intelligence involved in a 1993 plot to kill former US president George Bush - was in custody "somewhere near the Syrian border" in Iraq, a US official said.
He does not appear on the US "most wanted" list of former regime officials.
His arrest near the Syrian border follows US allegations that Damascus has been harbouring former Saddam loyalists and comes ahead of a visit by the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell.
Mr Powell said in remarks published in a Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily yesterday that he expected Syria to co-operate with the US and not give refuge to wanted former Iraqi officials.
"I am going to Syria to discuss all issues relating to support of terrorism and the borders with Iraq. We do not want Syria to become a haven for the officials of Saddam's regime," he said.
With still no sign in Iraq of the weapons of mass destruction the United States said Saddam was developing and that it used to justify going to war, Mr Bush suggested for the first time that the arsenal may have been destroyed. "We know he had them, and whether he destroyed them, moved them or hid them, we're going to find out the truth."
In Britain, Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw said UN weapons inspectors led by Dr Hans Blix should return to Iraq to play a role in the weapons hunt, currently being conducted by US and British officials.
He also welcomed news of Aziz's surrender, telling the BBC the former minister, along with other detained former Saddam loyalists, should provide important information about the nature of the regime. - (AFP)