Baghdad

The U.S. military said Thursday that its forces had captured a former regional commander in Saddam Hussein's Baath Party who is on Washington's list of most-wanted Iraqis.

The U.S. Central Command said in a statement that Aziz Salih Numan was a Baath Party regional command chairman responsible for west Baghdad. He was also a former governor of the southern cities of Karbala and Najaf.

The statement said he was number eight on the wanted list.

It said Numan was "now in custody of Coalition Forces" and that he was captured Wednesday near Baghdad.

The United States issued a list of most-wanted Iraqis after ousting Saddam on April 9, three weeks after U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq. Numan's capture brings to 25 the number of the 55 wanted fugitives now in U.S. custody.

vHis arrest follows the surrender of one of Saddam's most trusted generals, the former secretary of the feared Republican Guard, to U.S. forces Saturday.