BAGHDAD, April 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti was arrested Thursday, April 17, by U.S. special forces in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a U.S. Central Command spokesman said at the Qatar-based headquarters.

"This morning, coalition special operation forces supported by U.S. marines captured Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti.

"Barzan is the half-brother of Saddam Hussein and an adviser to the former regime leader with extensive knowledge of the regime's inner workings," Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told reporters.

He said Barzan was captured alone in the Iraqi capital in an operation that left no casualties, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"This was a Baghdad operation. I won't provide many more specifics in terms of the tactics that were used, since we certainly are interested in finding other regime leaders," said Brooks.

"There was information provided by some Iraqis in this case that facilitated the capture.

"We are currently asking a number of questions, finding out whatever information we can as a result of this capture and that will unfold in due time," added the U.S. military spokesman.

A family friend had earlier said Barzan, 52, had died in an April 11 U.S. bombing of his farm in the region of Ramadi, west of Baghdad.

Earlier that day, Central Command had said Barzan had been targeted by air strikes in Ramadi with six "smart bombs."

A U.S. official has confirmed reports that another half-brother of Saddam, Watban Ibrahim Hasan, a former interior minister who is Barzan's full brother, was captured near the border with Syria trying to flee Iraq on Sunday.

Both Barzan and Watban figure on the Pentagon's list of the wanted men of the regime, topped by Saddam.

They are each identified as "presidential advisor and Saddam half-brother."

Barzan had been placed under house arrest by Saddam in early March allegedly for contesting his wish that his younger son Qusay eventually succeed him.

He was intelligence chief in the early 1980s but fell out with Saddam in 1988 because he objected to the marriage of one of Saddam’s daughters to Hussein Kamel Hassan.

Saddam's elder son, Uday, had also married Barzan's daughter Saja "a long time ago," but they divorced after a few weeks, a family friend said.

Barzan was sent to Geneva in 1988 to represent Iraq at the United Nations and returned home in 1998.

During his stay in Geneva, he set up arrangements to circumvent the U.N. sanctions clamped on Iraq since 1990.

A source close to Barzan said that during this period, he urged Saddam to abolish the ruling Revolution Command Council and proposed forming a government of technocrats he himself would head.