BAGHDAD, Sept 5: Iraq's government was scrambling on Sunday to confirm whether the most wanted Saddam Hussein aide still on the run had been captured, as confident statements that he had been seized gave way to doubt and confusion.

The Defence Ministry said Izzat Ibrahim al Douri, who was sixth on a US list of the 55 most wanted members of Saddam's administration and had a $10 million price on his head, was arrested in Tikrit, Saddam's former powerbase north of Baghdad.

Two Iraqi ministers said Ibrahim was caught in a bloody raid in which 150 of his supporters tried to prevent his capture. Iraqi Minister of State Wael Abdul al-Latif said it was "75 to 90 percent certain" the captured man was Ibrahim, adding that 70 of the former official's supporters were killed and 80 were captured when they tried to thwart his arrest.

He said Arabs from outside Iraq had been among those protecting Ibrahim, who was suffering from leukaemia. "He's in a very deteriorated state of health," Latif said. Latif said US-backed Iraqi forces captured Ibrahim, but the US military said it had no knowledge of such an operation and the fugitive was not in US custody.

In Washington, White house spokesman Trent Duffy said: "We're still trying to confirm (Ibrahim's capture). We've seen the news reports." The provincial Iraqi National Guard commander in Tikrit said none of his men were involved in any capture mission.

"We have no information. No units of ours took part in such an operation," Major General Ahmed Khalaf Salman said. There was also no sign around Tikrit of any battle involving dozens killed.

An aide to Iraq's prime minister said DNA tests were under way to confirm whether a man in Iraqi custody was Ibrahim. "We cannot confirm it is Ibrahim al-Douri until we get the DNA tests back and we match them. They are still doing the DNA tests.

A committee of Americans and Iraqis will be conducting the DNA tests," he told Reuters. Earlier report said, seventy people were killed or wounded in clashes between the Iraqi national guard and militants trying to prevent the capture of Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri, an Iraqi official said.

SCIENTIST KILLED: An Iraqi nuclear scientist has been assassinated in Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, his brother told AFP on Sunday.

Mohammed Toki Hussein al-Talakani, who had practised nuclear physics since 1984, was shot dead on Saturday as he was driving in Mahmudiya, Alaa Toki Hussein said. The 40-year-old scientist lived in the small town of Al-Kifl, some 100 kilometres south of the capital. -Reuters/AFP