MOSUL (Iraq), Sept 19: Former Iraqi defence minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad on Friday surrendered to US forces after weeks of negotiations brokered by a Kurdish party.

A statement issued by the US Central Command said that “Sultan Hashim Ahmad Al Jabburi Al Tai, number 27 on the coalition’s list of most-wanted government officials, is now under custody of coalition forces.”

Daoud Baghestani, an official of the Iraqi Human Rights League, who mediated the surrender, said Ahmad gave himself up in Mosul after receiving US promises he would be well treated and taken off the most-wanted list. He was the 40th former official on the list to be either killed or taken into custody by US forces.—AFP