Man said to be Zarqawi captured: Reports

An Iraqi website says US forces have captured its most wanted Islamic militant, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.

Reports said the man was arrested in western Iraq near the border with Syria and his blood has been taken for testing in Baghdad for identification.

According a report by Xinhua, a man said to be Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi, whose Tawhid and Jihad group has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks in Iraq, was captured during a joint operation by coalition forces and Iraqi police, a Kuwait newspaper reported Friday.

The newspaper quoted a senior Iraqi police official as saying that the US and Iraqi investigators are trying to identify the captive, who was seized at the border of Iraq and Syria, and has sent his DNA sample for test.

Zarqawi, the No. 3 person of the al Qaida terrorist network, is the most wanted suspect in Iraq and has a US bounty of 25 million US dollars on his head.

The captive said his group operates mainly in west Iraq and a small faction of the group scatters around Baghdad and southern Iraq. He also revealed the hideouts of some members and ways of their communications.

Zarqawi's group has claimed responsibility for a number of bloody attacks and beheadings of foreigners, including US businessman Nicholas Berg, South Korean translator Kim Sun-il and Bulgarian truck driver Georgi Lazov.

The captive, garbed in a white shirt and jeans, gave no resistance when he realized his hideout was besieged, according to Iraqi police.

A week ago, Kuwaiti media reported that coalition forces and Iraqi police had rounded up Zarqawi and a handful of his followers in a certain Iraqi area bordering Syria.

Source: agencies