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One of two suspected British pilots ejected over the Iraqi capital of Baghdad was caught alive Sunday afternoon, while the hunt for the second one continued, the Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV reported.
The TV initially reported that both pilots were caught by Iraqi troops while hiding in reeds on the edge of the Tigris River in Baghdad.
But it later revised its report, saying only one pilot was caught while the Iraqi troops were still searching for the second one.
The first pilot was caught after two and half hours of hunt along the bank of the Tigris river in the Iraqi capital.
A manhunt was launched near the al-Rasheed bridge as Iraqi soldiers aboard small boats were seen combing the river, while other soldiers and armed civilians searched reeds along the bank.
The pilots were believed to come down by parachute after their Tornado fighter plane was shot down by Iraqi anti-aircraft fire.
The Iraqi crowd gathering at the scene were shown in the Al Jazeera live transmission celebrating after the pilot was caught.
Earlier Sunday, Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, denied the Iraqi claim that coalition pilots had been forced to abandon aircraft over Baghdad.
Appearing on ABC's "This Week," Myers said there was nothing "to substantiate that claim by the Iraqis that any pilot has bailed out of his airplane over Baghdad."
At an earlier new conference on Sunday, an Iraqi military spokesman said Iraqi forces have shot down five planes and two helicopters of the US-led coalition forces since the war began on Thursday
The spokesman, Major General Hazim Rawi, told reporters that four of the five downed enemy planes were brought down in and around the Iraqi capital.
Also on Sunday, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told a press conference the "captured enemy soldiers" will be shown on Iraqi TV later in the day.
(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2003)
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