Another of Iraq's most wanted is captured

US troops stormed into a village near Saddam Hussein’s home town of Tikrit before dawn, seizing about 260 prisoners, including one man on the “most-wanted” list of former Iraqi officials.

They encountered no resistance during the five hour sweep, officers said. About 230 of those detained were being released later in the day, the military said.

The region around Tikrit is known as a hotbed of Saddam’s Baath Party supporters and former high-ranking Iraqi military officials who enjoyed favoured treatment under the deposed regime.

US officials said one of those arrested was on the “top 55” list but did not give the suspect’s name.

Five Iraqi special security forces offers were also caught – including two army generals and a general from Saddam’s security forces who had disguised himself as a shepherd.

“We’re going to continue to hunt them until they get so tired of running that they give themselves up or we catch them,” said Major Mike Silverman, operations officer for the army division that staged the raid.

“I think it was very successful,” Silverman said. “We got one top-55 guy and about a dozen fairly bad guys off the street. And again we sent the message that we know the shadow regime is out there and it won’t be tolerated.”

US Central Command also announced the arrest of Fadil Mahmud Gharib, former Baath Party chairman of the Babil district. It said he was number 47 on the most-wanted list