Senior Baath Member Arrested

BAGHDAD — U.S. troops Friday arrested a senior Baath Party official who had worked as a diplomat for the government of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, witnesses said.

Nabil Nijim was not on the list of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis issued by Washington after U.S.-led forces toppled Hussein last month.

Nijim disappeared when the war began and his house in a Baghdad neighborhood was deserted until he returned Friday, the witnesses said.

“Two American jeeps came to his house today, and U.S. soldiers took him away,” said a witness who lives near the scene. Nijim was known as a senior member of the Baath Party who had served as Iraq’s ambassador to Egypt.