Posted on 02/15/2004 1:05:32 PM PST by demlosers
Baghdad - An ex-Ba'ath party official on the US-led coalition's wanted list was arrested on Sunday during the first such operation conducted solely by Iraqi police, an official said here.
Tension on the ground remained high one day after insurgents launched deadly twin raids on Iraqi security bases in the flashpoint town of Fallujah, and two Iraqis were killed on Sunday in a failed attack on a US convoy in Baghdad.
Mohammad Zimam Abd Razzaq al-Saadun was arrested by Iraqi special police forces at 14:00 (11:00 GMT) on Sunday at his Baghdad house, said Ahmed Kazem Ibrahim, the deputy interior minister and police chief.
"This was a very special arrest, with a special flavour because it was carried out solely by Iraqi police," he told a news conference in Baghdad.
Saadun was number 41 and the four of spades in the US deck of cards of 55 most-wanted Iraqis from the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein, who was himself captured by US forces near his hometown of Tikrit on December 13.
Saadun has already confessed the whereabouts of some of his hiding places while on the run and given interrogators the names of those who co-operated with him, the police chief said.
Week of bloodshed
The most high-profile arrest by the Iraqi police of an individual wanted by US forces capped a week of bloodshed which saw three major attacks by guerrillas against Iraqi security forces.
In the flashpoint Sunni Triangle town of Fallujah, police were investigating the deaths of 23 of its members in a bold daylight onslaught carried out on Saturday by unidentified gunmen.
Four of the attackers were also killed during the fierce firefight and their bodies were handed over to a nearby US base together with a fifth gunman who was captured alive.
Iraqi police officers in Fallujah complained that they were totally outgunned by the attackers and demanded the US army equip them with heavier arms.
Top Iraq administrator Paul Bremer told the ABC news network on Sunday that some of the attackers were believed to be foreign fighters, but police sources said the men had been identified as Fallujah residents.
The assault came just one day after the UN said Iraq was not ready for early elections and warned against serious dangers of civil war in the strife-torn nation.
Violence continued to rage on Sunday, leaving two Iraqis dead and three others wounded when insurgents mistakenly hit a minibus with a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) in Baghdad after trying to attack a US convoy, a hospital doctor said.
Near the northern city of Kirkuk, US soldiers gunned down two men who fired a rocket at Iraqi security forces in the village of Yaichi, police said.
A prominent member of the Governing Council, Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, has said he expects the interim body to run Iraq if national elections are not held before the US-led occupation ends on June 30.
Edited by Elmarie Jack
I'm sure this will be on the NYT's front page, complete with editorial commentary on how the new Iraq is taking shape, despite relatively minor (by historical standards), to be expected, difficulties. /sarcasm
I'm sure this will be on the NYT's front page,
What color is the sky outside your window?
Just kidding..., I saw the "/sarcasm" tag.
These police officers seem to be really good at interrogation!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.