Monday, February 28 2005 13:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Baghdad: Half-brother of ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, suspected of helping organise the insurgency and who figures on the US list of Iraq's most wanted, was arrested in Iraq yesterday (Feb 27, 2005).

"Security forces in Iraq captured the criminal Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan al-Tikrit, half-brother of Saddam Hussein and one of the leaders of the... past regime who killed and tortured sons of the Iraqi people," a Government statement said.

Saddam's advisor and intelligence chief, a key post in the old regime, Hassan was number 36 on the US list of 55 most wanted former regime officials in Iraq. It was not clear whether he was arrested by Iraqi or US-led troops.

"Sabawi's capture is the product of the Government's determination to hunt down and arrest all criminals guilty of butchery whose hands are dirtied with the blood of the Iraqi people before bringing them to justice for the punishment they deserve," said the statement from the Prime Minister's spokesman.

"It is to be remembered that Sabawi al-Tikrit actively participated in the planning, supervision and execution of many terrorist acts inside Iraq."

Hassan and a former aide had directed the Baathist strain of the insurgency from Syria, where they had access to funds and directed a network of Iraqi Army veterans, intelligence chief Mohammad Abdullah al-Shahwani told agencies in January.

Two other half-brothers of Saddam, Barzan and Watban, are already being held at a US Army-run jail near Baghdad and are set to be tried in the coming months.