Islamic State fighting flattens Saddam’s tomb

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.

Video from the village of Ouja, just south of Tikrit, shows all that remains of the once lavish tomb are the support columns that once held up the roof.

Poster-sized pictures of the late Sunni dictator, which once covered the mausoleum, are nowhere to be seen amid the mountains of concrete rubble.

Instead, Shia 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 Shia militias on the battlefield.

Battle for Tikrit

“This area was the most dangerous one for them, for Da’esh (the Islamic State group). Because Saddam’s grave was here,” said Captain Yasser Nu’ma, an official with the Shia militias.

“Even the leadership said that it would be difficult to enter this area but thank God we entered at 5am (0200 GMT) and until 10am (0700 GMT) everything had finished.”

“They booby trapped the grounds around the building. Thanks God there were no casualties from our side, they (Islamic State militants) were bombing the area,” he added.

The extremist Islamic State group has controlled Tikrit since June, when it waged its lightning offensive that brought Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, under its control.

The group claimed in August that the tomb had been completely destroyed, but local officials said it was just ransacked and burned,suffering only minor damage. Saddam’s body has been kept in the mausoleum in his birthplace, Ouja, since 2007.