US confirms Iraq's former leader Saddam captured

    BAGHDAD, Dec. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States officially confirmed on Sunday that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was arrested near his hometown of Tikrit more than eight months after the Saddam regim was toppled.

    US civil administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer told a press conference that Saddam was arrested at 8:30 P.M. (1730 GMT) Saturday. About 600 coalition troops joined the operation.

    The US forces also showed video of captured Saddam, who was wearing a beard and undergoing a medical examination. Saddam is "in good health" and without injuries, a US spokesman told reporters.

    The former Iraqi president had 750,000 US dollars in cash on him, the spokesman said.

    In Baghdad, Iraqis celebrated the capture of the former leader Saddam Hussein with gunfire while the fate of Saddam is not definitely known yet.

    Continuous gunshots were heard over the neighborhoods as reports poured into the city early in the day that Saddam may havebeen caught after the US-led coalition forces launched an overnight operation in his hometown of Tikrit, 170 km north of Baghdad.

    Saddam's capture was firstly reported by Iran's official news agency IRNA, which on Sunday morning quoted Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as saying that "Saddam Hussein was arrested in his hometown of Tikrit." Enditem