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Mourners flock to Saddam grave

Atul Aneja

U.S. death toll in Iraq touches 3,000

— PHOTO: AFP

Raghad, daughter of the former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, at a protest in Amman on Monday.

DUBAI: The execution of Saddam Hussein has evoked a strong reaction in Tikrit, a Sunni stronghold of the former Iraqi President.

Dozens of tents catering for the hordes of mourners sprang up in the town. Queues of men, women and children sat facing one another in the tents, while volunteers served the customary bitter black coffee — part of the mourning ritual.

With vehicles banned, hundreds of mourners walked up to Saddam's grave at Awja to pay their respects.

" Against Americans"

One of the demonstrators at Ad-Dawr, a village north of Bagdad, a 27-year-old Sunni Arab, was quoted as saying, "We are against Americans, Prime Minister [Nouri al-] Maliki, Moqtada Sadr and [Grand Ayatollah Ali] Sistani because they executed Saddam Hussein."

Ayatollah Ali Sistani is the top Shia spiritual leader in Iraq, while Mr. Moqtada Al-Sadr is a firebrand Shia cleric, who bitterly opposed Saddam.

The crowd called Mr. Al Sadr a "coward" and Abdulaziz Al Hakim, another Shia leader, who spent several years in exile in Iran, a "traitor."

The Arabic daily Al Hayat said members of the Mahdi army loyal to Mr. Al Sadr were suspected to have carried out the pre-dawn execution. Taped conversation in the execution chamber showed that someone in the room shouted Mr. Al Sadr's name shortly before Saddam was hanged.

Outside Iraq, Saddam's eldest daughter, Raghad, briefly attended a sit-in by hundreds of her father's supporters in the Jordanian capital Amman. Ms. Raghad remained quiet throughout her visit but thanked the crowd for its support before leaving.

U.S. military raid

In Iraq, a U.S. military raid severely damaged the office of a leading Sunni politician. Saleh al-Mutlaq, a leader of the Sunni Iraqi National Dialogue group said two of his security guards were killed and another two wounded. Meanwhile, the U.S. death toll in Iraq has touched the 3,000-mark. The Americans lost 111 persons in December — the highest number of deaths in a single month in the past two years.

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