They said he seemed to be moving around various safe houses with the aid of family members, often in disguise. In October, US officials said they had intelligence indicating Saddam Hussein was hiding in Tikrit. On 22 July his sons, Uday and Qusay, were killed in a raid by US forces in the northern city of Mosul. US authorities had offered a $25m reward for information leading to his capture. The former Iraqi leader was last seen in television footage shot in April at a Baghdad market just before the city fell to US forces in the recent Iraq conflict. People have started celebrating the capture of their former president in the streets of Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk by sounding their horns and firing into the air. US officials said Saddam Hussein was co-operative after his capture and talking politely. Saddam Hussein had been the object of intensive searches by US-led forces in Iraq but previous attempts to locate him had proved unsuccessful. President George W Bush is due to speak about the arrest in an address to the nation from the White House at about 1700 GMT. Iraqi Governing Council head Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim was quoted as saying that a DNA test had proved the man in custody was Saddam Hussein. There was a bedroom cluttered with clothes, some of them new and still in their wrappers, and a kitchen with running water. The hut where he was living had two very small rooms. Saddam was found dishevelled - later his beard was shaved off Saddam Hussein emerged from his hiding place "very much bewildered" and said "hardly anything at first", according to Major-General Odierno. Two unidentified people said to be "close allies" of Saddam Hussein arrested and weapons and more than $750,000 cash confiscated.Saddam Hussein found inside, armed with a pistol, and arrested at 2030 local time (1730 GMT) on Saturday - US says he offers no resistance."Spider hole" or cellar located in a hut - the narrow hole covered with a rug, bricks and dirt and about six to eight feet (1.8m to 2.5m) deep, with a styrofoam insert.US forces find "rural farmhouse" and cordon off an area of about two km by two km.About 600 US forces head to Al-Dawr, south of Tikrit, and conduct intensive searches.The sequence of events, as described by the US military, was as follows: "Over the last 10 days we brought in about five to 10 members of these families, and finally got the ultimate information from one of these individuals", he said. Video footage released by the US military showed a dishevelled-looking Saddam with a long black and grey beard in custody receiving a medical check-up.Ī US military spokesman, Major-General Raymond Odierno, said the operation - involving various combined US units - was launched within 24 hours of receiving a tip-off from a member of Saddam Hussein's clan.
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