Wanted Iraqi leader's wife and daughter arrested

As United States forces keep searching for deposed President Saddam Hussein, troops have detained a wife and daughter of Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, the second most-wanted man in Iraq.

Troops also detained one of his former bodyguards, Brigadier General Khalid Arak Hatimy, in a raid on a house near the town of Ramadi.

Washington has a US$10 million ($15 million) price on the head of the former vice-president of Iraq's Revolution Command Council, who is believed to have more than one wife.

After Saddam, Ibrahim is the senior Iraqi leader still at large. Now 61, he was behind the ousted regime's adoption of Islamist rhetoric in the 1990s.

Also yesterday, the US military said a former Saddam general had died under interrogation, apparently from natural causes.

Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush, a former air defence commander, died yesterday morning, said the military statement issued from the western town of al-Qaim in the troubled Syrian border region.

"Mowhoush said he didn't feel well and subsequently lost consciousness. The soldier questioning him found no pulse, then conducted cardiac and pulmonary resuscitation and called for medical authorities.

"According to the on-site surgeon, Mowhoush died of natural causes."

- AGENCIES

Herald Feature: Iraq