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Saddam bodyguard caught
12/08/2003 23:13 - (SA)
Tikrit - US troops arrested on Tuesday a suspected former bodyguard and a general under Saddam Hussein's regime, said Lieutenant Colonel Bill MacDonald of the 4th Infantry Division.
"At 15:30 today, elements of Taskforce Iron Horse and the 4th Infantry Division conducted a raid near Tikrit, resulting in 14 detainees," said MacDonald.
One is suspected to be a former regime bodyguard and the other a former general, MacDonald said, adding the questioning process was still ongoing about their identities.
"The questioning process will determine if they are middle level or upper level."
Among the equipment found in the three-hour raid on the outskirts of Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, 175km north of Baghdad, was a computer, a cellphone, a Kalashnikov rifle, a rocket-propelled grenade and a safe with unknown content.
The arrests came hours after the detention of seven people in a late-night raid in a village south of Tikrit targeting a financier of attacks on coalition forces.
US forces have dropped a dragnet over Tikrit and the surrounding area in the hopes of rooting out former regime loyalists, Fedayeen militiamen and even Saddam Hussein himself.
The US military said late last month the former dictator may be seeking the protection of pro-Saddam tribes in the region.
- Sapa-AFP
- SAPA
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