US forces capture ‘most trusted’ aide of Saddam
The official said Mahmud was captured in Iraq but had no further details.
Third in power only to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his younger son, Qusai, Mahmud controlled access to Saddam and was one of the few people he is said to have trusted completely, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
A distant cousin of Saddam, Mahmud is also the ace of diamonds on the US deck of cards portraying leaders of Saddam's regime.
In the 1990s, Mahmud was put in charge of several security portfolios, including responsibility over places Iraq has been accused of hiding weapons programs.
He started his career as a non-commissioned officer in Saddam's bodyguard, eventually being promoted to lieutenant general.
Mahmud may have information on the fate of Saddam and his sons, and he is thought to have details of Iraq's alleged weapons programmes.
US officials have said they want to try Mahmud for war crimes or crimes against humanity for activities associated with his senior position in the Iraqi regime.
It is unclear whether his capture was related to US raids near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.
American troops raided two farmhouses and found $8.5 million in American cash, 300 million to 400 million Iraqi dinars and an undetermined amount of British pounds and euro, said Major General Ray Odierno, commander of the Army's 4th Infantry Division.
The troops also found more than $1m worth of gems and jewels, he said.
The troops captured one of Saddam's bodyguards and up to 50 other people believed to be tied to Saddam's security or intelligence forces or paramilitary groups, Odierno told Pentagon reporters in a video news conference from his headquarters in Tikrit.
The troops also found Russian-made night-vision goggles and other military equipment, as well as various Saddam paraphernalia.
Odierno said he did not know if the cash was intended to pay bounties for attacks on American troops or to provide the Saddam loyalists with luxuries while they were in hiding.
Meanwhile gunmen killed an American soldier and wounded another in a hit-and-run shooting at a Baghdad propane gas station yesterday and US troops opened fire on a demonstration outside coalition headquarters in the capital, killing two protesters.
The gunmen walked up to a squad of troops guarding the gas station and opened fire at close range before fleeing in a waiting car, witnesses told Captain David Gercken, a spokesman for the Army's 1st Armored Division.
The slain soldier, whose name was not immediately released, was the second American killed this week in Baghdad, as attacks against the US-led occupation forces mounted and as American troops conducted a crackdown against resistance.
Attacks and accidents have killed about 50 American troops including about a dozen from hostile fire since major combat was officially declared over on May 1.
Between March 20, when the war started, and May 1, 138 Americans died from accidents or hostile fire.
Hours before yesterday's shooting, two Iraqis were killed by American gunfire during a demonstration by former Iraqi army soldiers seeking jobs and back pay outside the Republican Palace, Saddam Hussein's former presidential compound that is now the headquarters of the US-led administration.
The US Central Command said the soldiers fired in self-defence when the demonstration turned violent and protesters started throwing rocks.
"One demonstrator pulled out a weapon and began shooting. US Forces responded, killing two of the demonstrators," said the statement.
US forces evacuated the Iraqis to a military aid station.
However, both died of their wounds, military spokesman Major Sean Gibson said.
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