<사진자료=CNN>

축출된 전 이라크 지도자 사담 후세인이 티크리트 인근에서 체포된 것으로 보인다고 미국 관리들이 밝혔다.

관리들은 "미군이 티크리트에서 많은 이라크 수배자들을 체포한 가운데, 사담 후세인도 포함돼있는 것 같다"고 전했다. 체포된 자들의 신원은 아직 확인되지 않고 있다.

하지만 이 관리들은 일요일(이하 현지시각) 붙잡힌 많은 반란군 용의자 가운데 한명인 이 사람의 신원을 CNN에 확인해주지 않았다.

바그다드의 연합국 공보센터는 전 이라크 지도자의 체포여부에 대한 보다 명확한 상황을 오전 7시에 밝힐 예정이다.

"이번 작전은 사담 후세인이 티크리트 지역의 특정한 지점에 숨어있다는 정보에 근거해 실시됐다"고 관리들은 말했다.

사담 후세인은 연합군의 긴급수배 55인 명단의 제 1 순위 인물이다. 그의 도피 생활은 미국 정부에 정치적 상처를 안겨왔다.

사담(66세)이 이라크 전쟁으로 연합군에 의해 권좌에서 축출된 이후 그의 목소리로 추정되는 10여개의 음성테이프가 공개돼왔다. 최근의 것은 지난 11월 방송전파를 탔다.

모술에 숨어있던 그의 두 아들 우다이와 쿠사이는 지난 7월 미군의 습격작전으로 사망했다.

그들의 아버지도 곧 발견될 것이라는 당시 전망은 수개월만에 이뤄졌다.

CNN) -- Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is believed to have been captured in a raid near his hometown of Tikrit, U.S. military officials say.

However, the officials in Washington told CNN on Sunday that the identity of the individual, who was one of a number of suspected insurgents caught, was still being confirmed.

The person in U.S. custody was disguised in a fake beard when he was captured in the basement in a Tikrit building, Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress said.

Hours after the word leaked out on the possible capture, there were volleys of what was perceived to be celebratory gunfire in Baghdad.

A coalition news conference in Baghdad, scheduled for 3 p.m (1200 GMT), is expected to shed more light on the status of the Iraqi leader.

A briefing in Madrid by the Iraqi Governing Council president and Spanish foreign minister was also expected shortly.

The raid was based on intelligence that Saddam was at a particular location in the area, the officials said.

Video following that raid -- exclusively shot by CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh -- showed a group of U.S.-led coalition soldiers patting each other on the back -- apparently in celebration -- and taking group photos in front of a military vehicle.

The 66-year-old longtime Iraqi leader was number one on the coalition's 55 most wanted list, and his evasion has been a political sore spot for the U.S. administration.

The Iraq war began on March 19 when U.S. forces launched a "decapitation attack" aimed at the Iraqi president and other top members of the country's leadership.

Hours later, a defiant Saddam wearing a military uniform appeared on Iraqi television to denounce the U.S.-led military campaign as "criminal" and to say his countrymen would be victorious.

At least a dozen audiotapes believed to have been recorded by Saddam, 66, have been released since he was forced out of power by the coalition forces during the Iraq war. The most recent was broadcast in November.

His sons Uday and Qusay -- also on the coalition's most wanted list -- were killed in July, after U.S. forces stormed their hideout in Mosul.

Initial hopes that their father would soon be found faded in the months following that raid.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, has been dogged by reporters wanting to know the status of the search for Saddam.

"It is difficult to find him," Sanchez said, at a press briefing earlier this month. "Given that I haven't found him killed him or captured him, and I need the Iraqi people's help, and together we will find him, we will capture him, we will kill him."

The announcement comes on the same day that 20 people were killed and 32 wounded by a car bomb outside an Iraqi police station west of Baghdad, an Iraqi police officer told CNN. -CNN NEWS-

이종수 기자 okjscok@massmedianews.com