The tomb of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein has been destroyed in fighting near Tikrit where Iraqi forces supported by Iran-backed Shi’ite militias have been trying to take control of the city from the militants of the Islamic State.
The once large octagonal, domed building in Awja, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, was severely damaged. The building appeared to have been burned then destroyed. The dome was damaged but remained largely intact.
A Shi’ite militiaman nearby warned politicians to take lessons from Saddam’s fate.
“This is the fate of Saddam (former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein). We did to him what he did to us. He did a lot of harm to the Iraqi people, lots of harm to the south and to Iraq as a whole. He hit Duhok and Basra, but look now he has nothing, not even a tomb. We tell all politicians, ‘Take lessons from those before you’ and we tell them to take care of Iraq. We should all be united, let’s rise as one. This is the fate of Saddam, who harmed the Iraqi people, but now God has ushered us against him,” said the fighter from the Shi’ite militia known as al-Hashid al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Movement).
Fearful that Shi’ite militias would harm the tomb, Saddam’s Sunni tribal allies moved his body from a family plot early last year.
The tribal chief would not give details on where Saddam’s body was taken.
On December 13, 2003, after eight months on the run, the elusive former Iraqi president was finally captured by U.S. troops after he was discovered hiding in a hole in the ground near his home town of Tikrit.
He was hanged in 2006 after being convicted of crimes against humanity for the killing of 148Shi’ite villagers after a failed assassination bid in 1982.
Shi’ite militias are positioned near Saddam’s grave site to fight the Islamic State, the Sunni militants who swept through northern Iraq in June 2014 and declared a caliphate.
Iraq said on Monday (March 16) it had put its Tikrit offensive on hold and senior officials called for more air strikes to dislodge Islamic State militants who have laid explosives across Saddam Hussein’s home city and still hold its central districts.
The offensive, the largest yet against Islamic State insurgents has been stalled for four days after Iraqi security forces and mainly Shi’ite militia pushed into Tikrit last week.
REUTERS/IRAQI TV/UNTV
