Two more 'most wanted' Iraqis captured
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Two additional "most wanted" Iraqis have been captured by U.S. forces, according to Iraqi sources and U.S. Defense Department officials.
The circumstances of the captures were not disclosed.
One of those in custody is Latif Nusayyif Jasm Al-Dulaymi, a Baath party official and deputy chairman of the party's military bureau. He is also described as being involved in suicide operations and security for Iraqi defense facilities. He is the 10 of clubs in the Pentagon's deck of cards of most wanted Iraqis and is listed as number 18 on its list, according to the Pentagon.
CNN Baghdad sources say Dulaymi served as Iraq's information minister during the Iran-Iraq War and into the first Gulf War. On the first night of coalition bombing in the first Gulf War, he told reporters on the rooftop of the Information Ministry that no U.S. plane would violate the skies of Baghdad.
During his political career after the first Gulf War, he was known for his ruthless repression of Iraqi civilians in the Rasafa neighborhood of Baghdad. He advanced within the Baath Party despite the fact that he is not from Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, as were many members of the party. However, his loyalty to Saddam was strong and he was a forceful advocate of regime policies.
The other captured Iraqi was listed as number 53 and is not in the deck of cards. He is Brig. Gen. Qaid Husseini al-Awadi, a Baath party regional commander and a brigadier general in Iraq's chemical corps.
Awadi has been linked to the Iraqi regime's brutal repression of Shi'ite Muslims and Kurds, according to CNN Baghdad sources.
Before taking his Baath Party post in Ninawa near Mosul in northern Iraq, he was administrative governor of Najaf, an area in south-central Iraq where Shi'ites were brutally repressed by the regime.
CNN Baghdad sources also added that as a Baath Party Regional Chair in Ninawa he was in charge of the party's militia, which also tyrannized Kurds in northern Iraq.
-- CNN Producer Matthew McFetridge and CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
