Guerrillas attack US troops; fugitive held

US Occupation forces came under fire in Baghdad on Sunday, a day after insurgents launched a stunning raid in a troubled town to the west th...

US Occupation forces came under fire in Baghdad on Sunday, a day after insurgents launched a stunning raid in a troubled town to the west that killed 22 US-backed Iraqi police. Iraq8217;s Deputy Interior Minister Ahmed Kadhim said police arrested a wanted senior member of ousted President Saddam Hussein8217;s Baath Party. He identified him as Muhammad Zimam Abd al-Razzaq al-Sadun, number 41 on the US most wanted list of 55.

The US administrator in Iraq said the United States was awaiting a UN recommendation for the handover of sovereignty, still insisting it take place by June 30 as President George W. Bush has demanded, while Iraq and six neighbours called for a central role for the United Nations in the transfer of power. Guerrillas are mounting increasingly bold raids with the apparent aim of disrupting US plans for a handover by June 30.

Scores of gunmen stormed a police station and two other buildings on Saturday in Falluja, 50 km west of the capital, freeing prisoners in the latest spectacular assault on forces key to the transfer of power in Iraq. Assailants fired automatic weapons at a US military patrol in western Baghdad on Sunday, damaging a civilian vehicle travelling with the patrol, a US military spokesperson said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Shortly afterwards a roadside bomb blew up near a US convoy in an adjacent area. The blast missed the convoy but residents said US soldiers opened fire indiscriminately, wounding five people. There was no immediate comment from the military. Kadhim told Reuters Sadun was detained by police at noon on Sunday. 8216;8216;He is now held in my office,8217;8217; Kadhim said. Asked if he would be handed over to the US military, Kadhim said: 8216;8216;We are interrogating him now, we will see what we8217;ll do later.8217;8217;

Qatar-based Al Jazeera showed a man it said was Sadun, sitting in a room appearing startled and clothed in traditional Iraqi dress.

Saddam8217;s former lieutenant, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, number six on the list of 55, is the highest-ranking official still at large. In a pair of interviews on US Sunday talk shows, US civilian ruler Paul Bremer would not say which of 8216;8216;literally dozens8217;8217; of proposals he thought would be put forward and he would await word from UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.

8216;8216;We8217;ve said all along we are open to alternatives. We want to stick with the date,8217;8217; Bremer told ABC8217;s This Week. The call for elections has been spearheaded by Ayatollah Alial-Sistani, the most influential religious authority for Iraqi Shi8217;ites, who has demanded an elected government but signalled he may respect UN opinion.

Story continues below this ad

Iraq and six neighbours expressed their fears of a spillover of violence from Iraq. They said in a statement it was vital to eliminate 8216;8216;all terrorist and other armed groups8217;8217;.

8212;Reuters