Top Iraqi officials captured

12.00pm

UPDATE - Two top Iraqi officials, one of them Saddam Hussein's sole surviving son-in-law, have been detained by US-led forces and an Iraqi opposition group.

US-led forces in Iraq said they seized Saddam Hussein's science minister and a leading Iraqi opposition group said Saddam's son-in-law had surrendered to them, bringing to seven the number of "most wanted" Iraqis in US and opposition hands.

Abd al-Khalq Adb al-Gafar, Saddam's minister of higher education and scientific research and number 43 on the US list of 55 most wanted Iraqis, was taken into custody on Saturday, a US military central command statement said. He was the four of hearts in a pack of playing cards distributed to senior US officers in Iraq. The cards feature photographs and descriptions of 52 of the most-wanted.


The long-exiled Iraqi National Congress said Jamal Mustafa Sultan al-Tikriti, number 40 on the 55 "most-wanted" list, returned from Syria to surrender to them and would be handed over to US forces within hours.

"He is the first close member of the family to be detained," the group's spokesman, Zaab Sethna, told Reuters by telephone, saying that Jamal had served as Saddam's private secretary right up until the end.

He said Jamal had fled to Syria but the INC had persuaded him to come back to Baghdad - along with a senior Iraqi intelligence official, Khaled Abdallah - and give himself up.

Two of Saddam's half brothers have already been detained but Sethna said they were estranged from Saddam, making Jamal the biggest catch. Saddam had killed his other two sons-in-law, Sethna added.

The revelation that Jamal had been hiding in Syria came just hours after President Bush said there were "positive signs" Syria was heeding US calls to deny sanctuary to fleeing members of Saddam's administration.

Increased US pressure on Syria since the toppling of Saddam by US-led forces has fueled speculation that Damascus could be the next target in Bush's campaign against nations he accuses of aiding global terrorism.

Washington has accused Syria of harbouring Saddam's associates fleeing across the border, helping Iraq fight US forces, developing weapons of mass destruction and aiding terrorism. Syria denies the US allegations.

In a sign that a semblance of normality was returning to Baghdad, power supplies were restored in eastern parts of the city two weeks after they were cut off when US forces pounded the Iraqi capital ahead of their final push to oust Saddam.

But rebuilding Iraq's government could take much longer, according to one of Washington's leading Republican lawmakers.

"I would think at least we ought to be thinking of a period of five years of time. Now, that may understate it," said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar.

As the first convoy of food aid reached Baghdad, Iraqi Christians observed a sombre Easter Sunday, praying for an end to postwar chaos and uncertainty.

While Christians prayed, tens of thousands of Shi'ite Muslims, Iraq's majority population, beat their chests as they streamed toward the holy central city of Kerbala, in a pilgrimage banned by Saddam for nearly a quarter of a century.

In Baghdad, the mood was anxious as hundreds of Christians, dressed in the best clothes they could find, went to church to pray on the day they believe Jesus rose from the dead.

"We just want an end to killing. We have had enough," said Suhail Elias Kusto, 50, weeping at the Lady of Our Salvation Catholic church in Baghdad. She said her nephew was killed soon after the US-led invasion began on March 20.

Pope John Paul said in his Easter message the Iraqis must take charge of rebuilding the country with international help.

"Peace in Iraq," the Pope said after celebrating an Easter Sunday mass in St Peter's Square. "With the support of the international community, may the Iraqi people become the protagonists of the collective rebuilding of their country."

A World Food Program (WFP) convoy of 50 trucks arrived on Sunday at a Baghdad warehouse guarded by US troops. It was the first aid to reach the capital since the war.

A WFP official in the Jordanian capital Amman told Reuters the food would start being distributed early next month when current stocks in the city were expected to begin running out.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana took a swipe at the United States in a newspaper interview, saying it should use its clout to form consensus among its allies rather than impose its will by force. He renewed calls for a major UN role in Iraq.

Washington, snubbed by the UN Security Council when it sought approval to invade Iraq, has acknowledged the UN has a role to play. US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told the Al Khaleej and Gulf Today newspapers that the United States would "work together with the UN to figure out what the appropriate role is."

The United States has promised to pull out its troops and hand over control to an Iraqi government when it considers a U.S-led interim administration has completed its job.

Jay Garner, the retired US general charged with supervising Iraq's reconstruction, will travel to Baghdad on Monday for a first-hand look at the situation in the capital.

It was not clear whether he would meet INC head Ahmad Chalabi, a pro-American Iraqi politician who is widely thought to be Washington's candidate to lead Iraq.

Chalabi told ABC television's "This Week" program on Sunday US forces should stay in Iraq until it holds elections.

"The military presence of the United States in Iraq is a necessity until at least the first democratic election is held, and I think this process should take two years," Chalabi said.

US-led forces are still hunting for Saddam and his sons Uday and Qusay, and have found no weapons of mass destruction, a key justification for the invasion. Chalabi told Fox News on Sunday he believed Saddam was alive and hiding somewhere northeast of Baghdad.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, whose country is one of a handful which committed troops to the war, said the alliance would issue a victory declaration soon.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq war