“Ladies and gentlemen, we got him,” US administrator L. Paul Bremer told a news conference. “The tyrant is a prisoner.”

Mr Bremer said that Saddam was captured on Saturday at 8.30 pm (2300 IST) in a cellar in the town of Adwar, 16 km from Tikrit.

At the news conference announcing his capture, US forces aired a video showing a bearded Saddam being examined by a doctor holding his mouth open with a tongue depressor, apparently to get a DNA sample.

Then a video was shown of Saddam after he was shaved.

“The captive has been talkative and is being cooperative,” said Lieut-Gen Richardo Sanchez.

Saddam was being held at an undisclosed location, and the US authorities have not yet determined whether to hand him over to the Iraqis for trial. Iraqi officials want him to stand trial before a war crimes tribunal created last week.

Ahmad Chalabi, a member of Iraq’s Governing Council, said Saddam would be put on trial.

“Saddam will stand a public trial so that the Iraqi people will know his crimes,” said Chalabi, a member of Iraq’s Governing Council. He spoke on Al-Iraqiya, a Pentagon-funded TV station.

Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair addresses a news conference in London on Sunday, following the capture of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Blair said on that the capture Hussein and the "rebirth" of Iraq were the principal benefit to Muslims who suffered under him. — Reuters photo

Two other Iraqis were also arrested in the raid and two AK-47 assault rifles, a pistol and US$750,000 in $100 bills were seized, General Sanchez said.

General Sanchez described Saddam’s demeanour during the arrest, saying he seemed “a tired man. Also I think a man resigned.”

Forces from the 4th Infantry Division along with Special Forces captured Saddam, the US military said. There were no shots fired or injuries in the raid, called “Operation Red Dawn,” said Lieut-Gen Richardo Sanchez.

Trapped in the cellar, Saddam was in a six-to-eight-foot-deep “spider hole” that had been camouflaged with bricks and dirt. The soldiers saw the hole, investigated and found him inside, General Sanchez said.

The video showed an air vent and fan inside the hole to allow Saddam to remain hidden for an extended period.

In Baghdad, shop owners closed their doors, worried that all the shooting would make the streets unsafe.

Mr Bush was told early this morning at the White House that US troops had captured Saddam near his home town of Tikrit.

“The message to the Iraqi people is that the blanket of fear is beginning to lift,” a senior White House official said.

But the official added: “There are unfortunately still people in Iraq who have no future because their loyalties are to Saddam. We expect they will continue to fight to the death.”

Mr Bush cancelled his trip to church today. Aides attributed the decision to the heavy overnight snow blanketing the nation’s capital rather than to the surprise news of Saddam’s capture.

The President was first informed of the capture of Saddam on Saturday afternoon while he was at the presidential retreat of Camp David, and returned to the White House for the night.

National security adviser, Condoleessa Rice, updated him shortly after 5 am (1000 GMT) today.

Capturing Saddam represents a major victory for the President, who is seeking reelection next year.

According to an AFP report from Baghdad, Saddam Hussein was captured before dawn today while sleeping at a house in his hometown of Tikrit, Governing Council member Mahmud Othman told AFP.

“Before 4 am (0630 IST), Qusrat Rasul Ali called me to inform me that his men along with the Americans had managed to capture Saddam Hussein as he slept in his hideout in Tikrit this morning,” Othman said.

Rasul Ali, who was tortured by Saddam’s henchmen and is known as the lion of Kurdistan, heads a unit of special forces hunting down former regime leaders.

“I was sure the Kurds would catch Saddam Hussein because they have Arab friends in Tikrit, Mosul and the country,” said Othman, a Kurd himself.

“It’s a great joy for the Iraqi people because a great dictator has been arrested,” he added.

Ahmed Chalabi, another member of the council, said Saddam was “captured without any resistance,” and that he would be tried in public, according to Iraqi television.

An AP report from Baghdad said Saddam Hussein, trapped in a cellar, dug a hole and buried himself as US soldiers moved into the house where he was hiding, an Iraqi official said today.

“The American soldiers had to use shovels to dig him out,” Entifadh Qanbar, spokesman for Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi, told The Associated Press.

Qanbar, basing his account on reports from members of the US-led occupation authority, said Saddam had a salt-and-pepper beard when he was captured. Soldiers photographed him, shaved the beard and photographed him again before running DNA tests, he said.

“The DNA test confirmed 100 per cent Saddam Hussein’s identity,” he said.

The military raids in and near Tikrit, Saddam’s hometown, were based on fresh intelligence and were aimed at capturing Saddam, the officials said, and the man was captured in one of the targeted buildings.

“He was in a cellar of the building. His appearance was such that it made it not immediately certain you could say it was Saddam Hussein,” one senior US official said.

But some marks on the man’s body and other information gave the US military its first confirmation they had their target, officials said.

Saddam’s capture will be seen as defining moment in the Iraq war and the subsequent rebuilding process, and US administration officials have hoped it would lessen or break the organised resistance against US troops that has led to scores of deaths since the end of combat operations.

Celebratory gunfire rang out across the Iraqi capital, radios played festive music, drivers honked their horns and passengers on buses and trucks chanted “They got Saddam, they got Saddam,” as word of the former dictator’s capture spread from car to car and shop to shop today.

US troops stationed around the country cheered when they heard the news and held back as Iraqis fired their guns in the air. Iraqi journalists gave US officials a standing ovation and cheered wildly when video of a captured Saddam was shown during a news conference announcing the arrest.

But not everyone was happy and many said they wanted proof that the man in US custody was the real Saddam Hussein.

At the Palestine hotel, where foreign journalists and American contract workers are staying, Abil Daoud was sad.

“We lost our only hope and now we are stuck with the Americans,” said Daoud, who is employed by US troops as a local security guard. Some called Saddam a “coward” for getting caught. Others were glad he didn’t die a martyr.

Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Mussa said today that the arrest of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was a “significant step in the development of Iraq”.

According to a PTI report from London, British Premier Tony Blair said: “I very much welcome the capture of Saddam Hussein.”

“This is very good news for the people of Iraq. It removes the shadow that has been hanging over them for too long of the nightmare of a return to the Saddam regime.”

A Reuters report from Paris today quoting French President Jacques Chirac said he was delighted at the arrest of Saddam Hussein by US-led forces in Iraq and believed it would clear the way for Iraqis to rule Iraq.

“The President is delighted at the arrest of Saddam Hussein. This is a major event which should strongly contribute to the democratisation and the stabilisation of Iraq and allow the Iraqis to once more be masters of their destiny in a sovereign Iraq,” Mr Chirac said in remarks transmitted by telephone by his spokeswoman Catherine Colonna.

According to a Reuters report from Berlin, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder today sent a telegram of congratulations to US President Bush after US forces announced the capture of former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein.

“It’s with great delight that I learned of Saddam Hussein’s capture,” Mr Schroeder wrote. “I congratulate you on this successful operation. Saddam Hussein caused horrible suffering to his people and the region.” — Agencies