US forces raided late Tuesday night the house of the former head of the government-run Sunni Endowment and briefly detained him, the US military said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Sheikh Adnan al Dulaimi, who was present in the residence at the time, was briefly detained," the statement said.

US forces explained that they were looking for a wanted suspect reportedly staying in the residence.

"Sheikh Dulaimi was initially restrained for approximately 10 minutes, but was treated with respect," the statement said, adding US forces left the residence within 15 minutes.

For his part, Dulaimi said US and Iraqi forces broke into his house and handcuffed him and his grandsons for a while.

"It was a clear message for me to stop any peaceful acts aimed at unifying Iraqis to save our country," Dulaimi told a news conference at his house in Adl district in western Baghdad.

A major Sunni political group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, issued a statement denouncing the raid, saying "what happened last night is part of efforts to tame Sunni leaders."

Source: Xinhua