Saddam's defence chief surrenders

MOSUL - Iraq's former defence minister, seen at Saddam Hussein's side in what is thought to have been the ousted leader's last public appearance, has surrendered to US forces, an Iraqi mediator says.

Sultan Hashim Ahmed, number 27 on Washington's wanted list of former top Iraqi officials, turned himself over to US troops in a house in the northern city of Mosul yesterday, local human rights official Dawood Bagistani told a news conference.

The news was a boost for US forces in Iraq after a night in which three soldiers of the US Army's 4th Infantry Division were killed and two wounded by guerrillas near Saddam's hometown of Tikrit. The ambush was the deadliest in weeks against US troops, who face around a dozen attacks a day.

A US commander said American forces captured 40 suspected Iraqi guerrillas in the night-long battle.

"We feel confident we now have under our control the individuals who attacked our patrol," Colonel James Hickey said.

Ahmed's surrender means 40 of the 55 most-wanted former senior Iraqis have now been declared killed or in US custody.

Although regarded as a figurehead in the Iraqi army while real power rested with Saddam, Ahmed can be seen in footage of the former president waving to crowds said to have been taken in a Baghdad suburb on April 9, the day US forces took the city.

His surrender is bound to fuel fresh speculation about whether US forces are closing in on Saddam, particularly as his sons, Qusay and Uday, were killed in a gunbattle with American troops in Mosul in July.

US forces in the city have also repeatedly been rumoured to be close to capturing Izzat Ibrahim, number six on the wanted list and vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council which was at the centre of Saddam's power structure.

"At eight o'clock this morning (local time), Sultan Hashim Ahmed and his family surrendered to coalition forces," mediator Bagistani said.

Bagistani said Ahmed had given himself up after negotiations in which the US agreed that he was innocent of "crimes". There was no immediate US comment.

"This is a moral commitment by the US government. Our role was only to transfer him peacefully," Bagistani said. "It is true he served the Iraqi government but he is an innocent man and we want you (the US) to treat him honestly."

In the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam chose Ahmed to head the Iraqi delegation at ceasefire talks near the border with Kuwait.

Ahmed is the eight of hearts in a pack of playing cards issued to US troops to help them identify fugitive Iraqi leaders. Saddam himself is the ace of spades.

In the night-long battle near Tikrit, American soldiers were trying to find a rocket-propelled grenade launch site when they came under attack.

The deaths brought to 76 the number of US soldiers killed in action in Iraq since President George W. Bush declared major combat over on May 1.

The daily guerrilla attacks and the mounting cost of occupying Iraq have prompted an American drive to gain a new UN resolution that would encourage more countries to supply troops and cash to stabilise Iraq.

But Bush told reporters at his Camp David retreat outside Washington that he did not expect a UN Security Council agreement on such a resolution before he attends the UN General Assembly in New York next week.

Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, told reporters, however, that Washington saw the meeting as a chance to bridge differences after the bitter debate before the US-led invasion in March.

At the United Nations, diplomats said Secretary-General Kofi Annan was demanding that the world body should have a clear and independent mandate in Iraq before large numbers of political staff return to the country.

Many withdrew after a bomb attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad which killed at least 22 people.

Two of the strongest opponents of the war, France and Germany, expressed fears of a worsening security situation in Iraq, and called for a handover of political power to Iraqis.

French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in Berlin they could help train Iraqi soldiers and police, but France also insisted Washington hand power to an Iraqi government in "months, not years".

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq