The commander of Iraqi Anbar sector Command has surrendered to US Forces in the Western Iraqi desert as the Parisian daily Le Monde reported today that Maher Sufyan, Commander of the Republican Guard reached an agreement with American forces in which he ordered his forces to surrender in exchange for his transfer via an American Apache helicopter to an undisclosed safe haven.Observers said the mystery of what happened to the Iraqi Republican Guard defending Baghdad appears to have been solved if the Le Monde report were to be believed.

Quoting anonymous sources, Le Monde's correspondent in Baghdad said that Sufyan ordered all Republican Guard forces to lay down their arms and go home. Shortly thereafter an Apache helicopter escorted Sufyan from the Al Rashid camp, east of Baghdad, to an unknown location.

Maher Sufyan is not included on the infamous "deck of cards" created by US defence officials to highlight the most wanted individuals from the Saddam Hussein government. Iraq's popular Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed Al Sahaf, Naji Sabri, Iraq's Foreign Minister and Oumid Medhat Mubarak, the minister of health are also not included on the list.

Iraqi Army's Western Anbar Command Surrenders

Meanwhile, the commander of the Iraqi army's Anbar sector command, who led 16,000 troops with control extending to the Syrian border, surrendered to US forces, an AFP reporter witnessed.

"I am ready to help, " Iraqi General Mohammed Jarawi told US Colonel Curtis Potts after signing the surrender in the western Iraqi desert.

Potts, commander of the 4th Brigade of the US 3rd Infantry Division, told the general: "Now is the time to rebuild Iraq and turn over the country to the Iraqi people."

Potts said that US forces would now move through the area to put out of service the hundreds of tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles belonging to the Anbar command, but stressed they would not be destroyed.

He said that they would simply be disabled so that they could be used again once the country had been stabilised.

"There are no more uniformed Iraqi military that were under his control and his command (who are) resisting," Potts told AFP, stressing that the area towards the Syrian border could still hold paramilitaries and special Republican Guard forces.

"A lot of his soldiers deserted once the war started. There's not a lot of his soldiers left," Potts said.

The surrender was witnessed by Jarawi's number two Ahmad Sadeq, as well as a handful of US invasion forces.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Iraqi soldier (R) surrenders to British troops. US and British troops guarding Iraqi POWs are having to cope with daily riots(AFP/File/Odd Andersen)