A leading Iraqi opposition group said on Sunday Saddam Hussein's son-in-law had surrendered to them and would be handed over to U.S. forces in Baghdad within hours. The Iraqi National Congress said that Jamal Mustafa Sultan al-Tikriti, number 40 on the U.S. list of 55 most wanted Iraqis, had returned from Syria to surrender to them.

"He is the first close member of the family to be detained," the group's spokesman Zaab Sethna told Reuters by telephone, adding that Jamal had served as Saddam's private secretary right up until the end.

He said Jamal had fled to Syria but the INC had persuaded him to come back to Baghdad -- along with a senior Iraqi intelligence official, Khaled Abdallah -- and give himself up. Jamal is the sixth from the U.S. list to be detained.

In another development, U.S.-led forces in Iraq have seized Saddam Hussein's minister of higher education and scientific research, ranked 43 on their list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis, the U.S. military central command said on Sunday.

"Abd al-Khalq Abd al-Ghafur was taken into custody yesterday," a statement said.

The capture of Mr. Gafar means the coalition forces have now seized four leaders of the Iraqi regime in the past four days.
Correspondents say the more top officials are captured, the more intelligence the US military can obtain in their hunt for Saddam Hussein himself,


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A statement from US Central Command in Qatar said Abd al-Khaliq Abd al-Gafar, who was Iraqi minister of higher education and scientific research, under Saddam was taken into custody on Saturday.