Saddam recovering from hernia surgery

Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein underwent an operation to repair a hernia about 10 days ago but has made a full recovery, Iraqi sources said on Tuesday.

Saddam taken to the Ibn Sina hospital near the US-controlled Green Zone for the procedure, which was performed by Iraqi doctors, according to sources close to the Human Rights Ministry.

The operation lasted about an hour and Saddam was returned to his cell the same day, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

Efforts contact US officials were unsuccessful because their offices were closed for the day.

Saddam been in US custody since Dec. 13, when he was captured by US troops in a hole near his hometown of Tikrit. He is believed to be held in a US-guarded facility near Baghdad International Airport.

He appeared in court in July for a preliminary hearing into allegations of crimes committed during his rule.

A delegation of the International Committee for the Red Cross met with Saddam in prison earlier this month, spokeswoman Nada Doumani said.

In July, The Guardian newspaper in Britain and Newsday in New York quoted Iraqi Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin as saying that Saddam was being treated for high blood pressure and a chronic prostate infection and was suffering from a hernia.

Doctors him antibiotics and performed tests to make sure he has nothing more serious, such as cancer.

"To be 100 percent sure he has to do a biopsy," Amin said.