U.S. officials say U.S. troops have captured an Iraqi scientist believed to be involved in Iraq's efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.
The officials say Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash was taken into custody Sunday in Baghdad. She is on the U.S. list of the "most-wanted" Iraqis from Saddam Hussein's ousted regime.
U.S. officials say Ms. Ammash may be able to provide information about Iraq's biological weapons program. The United States accused the Saddam government of harboring banned weapons but has yet to find any evidence of them.
Meanwhile, the U.S. official in charge of rebuilding Iraq says the nucleus of an Iraqi government may be in place by the end of this month. Retired Army General Jay Garner says a group of up to nine Iraqis will run the country's interim government.
He says the group will represent Iraq's ethnic and religious factions.
General Garner says the group likely will include former exile Ahmad Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress, and leaders of two Kurdish groups as well as a Christian.