Security forces captured two of Saddam Hussein’s relatives, the government said today, alleging the pair had been helping launch terrorist attacks in Iraq.

Gunmen killed the brother of the man who told the US Army where to find Saddam Hussein’s sons, who were killed in a hail of gunfire last July, witnesses and hospital officials said today.

Saddam Hussein’s daughters have expressed deep affection for their father in interviews, but said they did not know where he was and that they last saw him a week before the Iraqi war started.