Syria linked to capture of Saddam's half-brother

Ibrahim had a US$1 million bounty on his head.

BAGHDAD - A half brother of Saddam Hussein who has played a leading role in the insurgency has been captured with help from Syria, which faces United States allegations of abetting terrorism, Iraqi government officials said.

The government said in a statement Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hasan al-Tikriti, a top-level Baathist accused by the government of directing the Iraqi insurgency from Syria, had been caught, without saying when, where or how he was seized.

Ibrahim, an intelligence chief and one-time adviser to Saddam, was number 36 on the US military's list of the 55 most-wanted people in Iraq -- the six of diamonds in the US military's pack of playing cards.

The government did not say whether US or Iraqi forces had captured him. It was expected to give more details on Monday.

However, a senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Syria, feeling the heat due to accusations it was behind recent attacks in Israel and Lebanon, had played a role in giving Ibrahim up.

"The Syrian authorities, because of the tremendous pressure on them, did something about Ibrahim," the official said. "Having so many problems on their plate at the moment, the Syrians were willing partners in this, but the Americans and we were also involved.

"I think you'll find that there was a strong US presence in this, but everyone -- the Syrians, the Americans and us, the Iraqis -- were keen to see this happen."

Another source in the government confirmed that the Syrians were involved. Syrian authorities in Damascus had no comment.

Syria has come under fire from the United States after the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in Beirut nearly two weeks ago. The Lebanese opposition blamed Damascus for his death.

Iraq's US-backed government has repeatedly accused Syria of abetting militants, charges Damascus denies.

Last year, Iraqi officials named Ibrahim, who was born to the same mother as Saddam, as one of two former Baath Party officials helping organise the insurgency from Syria.

Ibrahim, who had a US$1 million ($1.4 million) bounty on his head, is the first person on the US pack of cards to be detained since February 2004. Nearly a dozen of the 55 remain at large, including Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, one of Saddam's top aides.

The government has claimed a number of recent successes in its fight against the insurgency.

On Sunday it announced the arrest of Lieutenant Colonel Khaled Rajab, accused of running a 40-person militant cell in and around the northern city of Mosul, and on Friday it said it had captured Abu Qutaybah, described as a key lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's leader in Iraq.

Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq dismissed the claim, saying US-led forces were trying to boost low morale.

"And who knows which aide was arrested and what lies they made up. This is a hopeless attempt on their part to raise morale," the Al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq said in an internet statement.

Despite the arrests, Iraq's daily suicide bomb blasts, ambushes and targeted killings persist.

A bomb near Mosul on Sunday killed eight people and wounded at least two more, the US military said. Several of the dead were Iraqi security guards, police said.

In Musayyib, a town south of Baghdad, police discovered five bodies, all shot several times in the head and with their hands handcuffed behind their backs. In Baghdad, the headless body of a woman was left on a street with a note saying "spy" attached.

Near Baghdad, a car carrying a journalist working for Alhurra, a US-funded Iraqi television channel, was attacked. The driver was killed and the journalist wounded, police said.

The US military said two of its soldiers were killed in Baghdad on Saturday by a roadside bomb and small arms fire.

It raised to at least 1136 the number of US troops killed in combat since the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Quelling the violence will be the first task of Iraq's new government once it takes power following the January 30 election.

Intense jockeying to determine the make-up of the government, including the top position of prime minister, has been going on for weeks and shows little sign of letting up.

Two people are in the running to be prime minister -- Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a doctor and former exile who is the candidate of the Islamist Shi'ite alliance that won the election, and Iyad Allawi, the current prime minister.

"There are some sensitive and very important ministries we haven't agreed on yet," Jaafari told reporters on Sunday after meeting a delegation of US congress members in Baghdad.

- REUTERS