Troops capture top Iraqis: Official could shed light on weapons development plans

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S-led forces captured three top leaders ofSaddam Hussein's regime, including a vice president and a director ofweapons development, U.S. officials said today. American soldiersalso staged a raid in Saddam's hometown, killing one Iraqi anddetaining about 20.

The captured officials - all on the U.S. most-wanted list of 55regime leaders - were identified as Abdel Tawab Mullah Huweish,director of the Military Industrialization Organization; Taha Muhie-eldin Marouf, a vice president and member of the RevolutionaryCommand Council, and Mizban Khadr Hadi, another Revolutionary CommandCouncil member who had been an adviser to Saddam since the early1980s.

The Military Industrialization Organization oversaw development ofIraq's most lethal weapons and Huweish's detention could add toinvestigators' knowledge of any programs aimed at producing chemical,biological or nuclear weapons.

Huweish was listed as No. 16 on the most-wanted list, Hadi was No.41 and Marouf was No. 42. Eighteen of the 55 officials on the listare now in custody, and another is believed to have been killed in anair strike.

Even with President Bush declaring an end to "major combatoperations," the raid on regime loyalists in Saddam's hometown ofTikrit was the latest of many signs that daunting challenges remainfor American forces in Iraq.

Almost daily, U.S. troops exchange gunfire with Iraqis, sometimesas a result of anti-American protests. Lawlessness is rampant, in aland abounding with well-armed citizens and divided loyalties.

Tikrit, the stronghold of Saddam's al-Tikriti clan, has been acenter of pro-regime sentiment even as the former governmentcollapsed. U.S. officers say members of Saddam's Baath Party aretrying to reorganize to stage attacks on American troops, and one ofthe men detained today was described as a party official.

During the raid, troops found several weapons and about $3,000hidden in various houses, and one Iraqi was killed when he tried towrest a rifle from an American soldier, U.S. officers said.

The raid, the second in Tikrit in as many days, began shortlyafter midnight when six Bradley Fighting Vehicles sealed off aresidential district. Soldiers broke down gates and doors, forcedtheir way inside and emerged with about 20 men, blindfolded and handstied behind their backs.