US occupation forces came under fire in Baghdad on Sunday, a day after insurgents launched a stunning raid in a troubled town to the west that killed 22 US-backed Iraqi police.
Iraq's Deputy Interior Minister Ahmed Kadhim said police arrested a wanted senior member of ousted President Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. He identified him as Muhammad Zimam Abd al-Razzaq al-Sadun, number 41 on the US most wanted list of 55.
Guerrillas are mounting increasingly bold raids against US -backed Iraqi security forces with the apparent aim of disrupting US plans for a hand-over by June 30.
Scores of gunmen stormed a police station and two other buildings on Saturday in Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of the capital, freeing prisoners in the latest spectacular assault on forces key to the transfer of power in Iraq.
Two hospitals in Falluja said 22 police, one civilian and four attackers were killed in Falluja. At least 35 people were wounded.
Police said 20 to 85 prisoners escaped during the attack.
Assailants fired automatic weapons at a US military patrol in western Baghdad on Sunday, damaging a civilian vehicle travelling with the patrol, a US military spokesperson said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Shortly afterwards a roadside bomb blew up near a US convoy in an adjacent area. The blast missed the convoy but residents said US soldiers opened fire indiscriminately, wounding five people.
There was no immediate comment from the military.
Kadhim told Reuters Sadun was detained by police at noon (0900 GMT) on Sunday.
"He is now held in my office," Kadhim said. Asked if he would be handed over to the US military, Kadhim said: "We are interrogating him now, we will see what we'll do later."
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