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Two Iraqis on US wanted list apprehended - Centcom

LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - Two men on the U.S. list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis have been apprehended, U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Friday, including the former head of the Iraqi ministry in charge of developing weapons.

Abdul Tawab Mullah Hwaish, minister of military industrialisation and No. 16 on the wanted list "is now in coalition custody," the statement said.

The Military Industrialisation Ministry was established in the 1980s to develop weapons. The apprehension could help U.S. investigators in their search for weapons of mass destruction that Washington said Iraq possessed.

Also apprehended was No. 42, Taha Mohieddin Ma'rouf, an Iraqi vice president and member of Saddam Hussein's Revolutionary Command Council, Centcom said.

While one of only two vice presidents and a member of Saddam's RCC, Ma'rouf was not considered part of the former Iraqi leader's inner circle and rarely appeared in public or made statements.

Centcom issued a list of most-wanted Iraqis after ousting Saddam on April 9 following a U.S.-led military invasion of Iraq. Friday's announcement brought to 17 the number of people on the list known to have surrendered or been captured.

At the top of the wanted list are Saddam and his two sons, Uday and Qusay. U.S. officials have said they have no information on whether the three are alive or dead.

05/02/03 08:18 ET