"Special operation forces last night captured another key member of the regime, Samir al-Aziz al-Najim, one of the top 55 members of the regime," Brooks told reporters at the US Central Command war headquarters in Qatar.

The capture of Najim, the regional command chairman of the Baath party in eastern Baghdad, follows the seizure of Saddam's half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti on Thursday.

Brooks said "there is some indication he may have also been posted in the north to take over some of the military operations."

"He was handed over to coalition forces by Iraqi Kurds near Mosul in northern Iraq," the general said, adding that Najim "is believed to have first-hand knowledge of the Baath party central structure."

To date, US-led forces in Iraq have captured four of the 55 people who figure on a list of most-wanted Iraqis.

Najim was number 24 on that list and was displayed as the four of clubs in the deck of playing cards on which Central Command displayed the wanted men.

The other two in US custody are Watban Ibrahim Hasan, another half-brother of Saddam Hussein, who was arrested on Sunday, and General Amer al-Saadi, Saddam's top weapons advisor, who surrendered last Saturday.

SPACE.WIRE