The latest arrests bring to 11 the number of the most-wanted Iraqis in US custody.

The US Central Command said in a statement the three were the Iraqi air defence force commander, Muzahim Sa'b Hassan al-Tikriti; the director of military intelligence, Zuhayr Talib Abd al Sattar al Naqib; and the minister of trade, Muhammad Mahdi al-Salih.

The statement gave no details on their capture.

The United States has launched a major dragnet across Iraq for former regime officials who might have information about suspected weapons of mass destruction programs and the whereabouts of Saddam.

It has put the 55 on posters distributed across Iraq and also on a pack of cards handed out to some US troops.

Al-Naqib -- the military intelligence chief who appears as the seven of hearts on the cards -- was interviewed by The Los Angeles Times shortly before he turned himself into US forces.

He was holding red beads in one hand and an attache case with his personal belongings in the other when he surrendered to US troops, the paper said.

The Times said al-Naqib depicted himself as a purely military man who did his job, stayed out of politics and believed he had little choice to leave even if he had wanted to.

"This was the military, you move up from position to position. I was just following orders," he was quoted as saying. "But I will not answer whether I believed in the regime."

The Times said al-Naqib dismissed US allegations of chemical weapons.

US Central Command said another senior official who did not appear on the list of 55 had also been captured.

It named him as Salim Sa'id Khalaf al Jumayli who had headed the American desk of the Iraqi intelligence Service.

"He is suspected of having knowledge of Iraqi Intelligence Service activities in the United States, including names of persons spying for Iraq," said Jim Wilkinson, the Central Command's spokesman.

US forces have put extra emphasis on capturing officials of the desposed regime in hopes they will help them uncover the weapons of mass destruction programs that were the primary US and British justification for invading Iraq.

So far no chemical and biological weapons have been reported found despite US claims before the war that extensive intelligence pointed to a hidden arsenal that were unaccounted for after the 1991 Gulf War and secret efforts to produce more.

SPACE.WIRE