Saddam’s tomb suffers extensive damage in Iraq fighting

OUJA – The tomb of Iraq’s late dictator Saddam Hussein was virtually levelled in heavy clashes between militants from ISIS and Iraqi forces in a fight for control of the city of Tikrit.

Fighting intensified to the north and south of Saddam Hussein’s hometown on Sunday as Iraqi security forces vowed to reach the centre of Tikrit within 48 hours. An Associated Press video from the village of Ouja, just south of Tikrit, shows all that remains of Hussein’s once lavish tomb are the support columns that held up the roof.

Poster-sized pictures of Saddam, which once covered the mausoleum, are now nowhere to be seen amid the mountains of concrete rubble. Instead, Shi’ite militia flags and photos of militia leaders mark the predominantly Sunni village, including that of major general Qassem Soleimani, the powerful Iranian general advising Iraqi Shiite militias on the battlefield.

“This is one of the areas where ISIS militants massed the most because Saddam’s grave is here,” said captain Yasser Nu’ma, an official with the Shiite militias, formerly known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces. “The ISIS militants set an ambush for us by planting bombs around the tomb.”

ISIS has controlled Tikrit since June, when it waged its lightning offensive that saw Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, come under their control.

ISIS was helped in its conquest of northern Iraq by Saddam loyalists, including military veterans, who appealed to Sunnis who felt victimized by Baghdad’s Shi’ite-dominated government.

The Islamic State group claimed in August that Saddam’s tomb had been completely destroyed, but local officials said it suffered only minor damage.

Saddam was captured by US forces in 2003 and was executed by hanging in December 2006 after an Iraqi special tribunal found him guilty of crimes against humanity for the mass killing of Shi’ites and Kurds. His body has been kept in the mausoleum in his birthplace, Ouja, since 2007.

The complex featured a marble octagon at the centre of which a bed of fresh flowers covered the place where his body was buried.

The extravagant chandelier at its centre was reminiscent of the extravagant life he led until US forces toppled him in 2003.

– Nampa-AP