US snares nephews of former Iraq VP

US forces moved a step closer to the most wanted man in Saddam Hussein’s regime yesterday, detaining his four nephews in a pre-dawn raid and capturing another top fugitive thought to be a paymaster in the anti-coalition insurgency.

In the Sunni Triangle region that has been the heart of the guerrilla war, a car bomb exploded in front of a police station in the town of Baqouba, killing the driver and two other Iraqis and wounding 31, including civilians and police. Outside Samarra, US troops killed eight Iraqis after their patrol came under fire.

The detention of the nephews of former Iraqi Vice-President Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri came in a raid Wednesday in Samarra, prompted by a tip. Al-Douri has a $10 million bounty on his head and is suspected to have been orchestrating insurgent attacks.