WASHINGTON, Feb 3: Iraqi security forces missed Abu Musab al Zaraqwi by about an hour in a raid two weeks ago, one of several occasions in which the elusive guerrilla leader came close to being captured, Iraq's interior minister said on Thursday.

"I think we arrived there a bit late," Interior Minister Falah al Naqib. "Maybe we missed him by one hour." The minister, speaking from Baghdad by video link, told reporters here the raid occurred about two weeks ago, but provided no other details.

Mr Naqib said 350 "terrorists" were arrested in the three weeks before the Jan 30 elections. Other Iraqi officials have said that those arrested included a number of top lieutenants of Zarqawi, a Jordanian who leads a network of militants linked to Al Qaeda.

Mr Naqib credited an Iraqi special forces unit formed to go after guerilla t leaders with the gains made in recent weeks. "We have weakened them very much, we are continuing to weaken them, and hopefully in a very short period of time nobody will hear about Zarqawi," Mr Naqib said.

"We are following him. We missed him twice or three times, but hopefully next time we will be able to capture him," he said. -AFP