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Saddam
Hussein captured
Saddam
Hussein has been captured alive near his home town of Tikrit in a
major coup for the beleaguered US-led occupation forces in Iraq.
US occupying administrator Paul Bremer said Hussein was captured
late on Saturday after more than eights months of searching for him. Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez told a news conference on
Sunday that the army had received intelligence late on Saturday of two possible
hideouts near the village of Aghwar. Some 600 special forces participated in the raid to capture the
ousted Iraqi leader, who was found hiding in what Sanchez called "a spider
hole". US forces showed a videotape of the hideout. The video showed a
bearded Hussein recieving a medical examination, to the applause of the
journalists. Earlier, from Tehran to Madrid reports had announced
without confirmation that the ousted Iraqi leader was captured.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed Hussein's capture,
saying he would be tried in Iraqi courts. Blair's statement was the first from a high ranking politician that the fugitive Iraqi leader iwasin custody. Blair said the ousted leader was captured late last night in Tikrit. A senior Pentagon official said Hussein had been captured alive in an overnight raid in his hometown. A senior US defence official was also quoted as saying Hussein has been indeed captured. Also, Washington's Iraqi allies, including Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmad Chalabi, said that Hussein was in US custody. Intifad Qanbar, the spokesperson for the US-backed Iraqi Governing Council, claimed DNA tests had shown that the captive was Hussein. He also told Aljazeera that the ousted leader had been disguised in a beard when he was captured.
Reports from the Spanish capital say DNA tests also prove that the man in custody is Hussein. The US-led occupation forces have been looking for Saddam since they toppled his government in April. Earlier, a US defence official was quoted as saying: "We may have him." Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani was quoted by the official Iranian news agency as saying that the former Iraqi leader had been captured. Mystery Associated Press also quoted unnamed Iraqi officials as citing US occupying administrator Paul Bremer as saying the ousted leader had been captured. But US military officials in Baghdad refused to confirm the reports, saying a press conference at 3:00pm (12:00GMT) would be held. Earlier, Nazim Dabbagh, a representative of Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, confirmed Talabani's statement. In Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and elsewhere in the country, people poured into the streets at the news. There were reports of celebrations in Tikrit. In the northern, mainly Kurdish city of Kirkuk celebrations were taking place in the streets as residents fired rifles, reported our correspondent. The
Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie" |
