The US military denied reports today that leading militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been captured in Iraq.
"It's not true, the reports are not true," Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the US military in Iraq, said.
Earlier, reports on a US-funded Iraqi radio station had suggested Zarqawi, the Jordanian who Washington says is leading resistance in Iraq, had been captured near the town of Hilla, 100 kilometres south of Baghdad, in an area controlled by Polish troops.
Iraqi officials in Hilla said a man had been captured who resembled Zarqawi and spoke with a similar accent.
Zarqawi is accused of organising or carrying out dozens of deadly attacks in Iraq over the past several months, including a series of blasts and attacks last week that killed more than 100 Iraqis and three US soldiers.
His group has also beheaded a US and South Korean hostage in Iraq, and it is threatening to execute three Turks.