Headlines
Saddam Hussein's tomb destroyed in assault on Tikrit
Baghdad, March 17
The tomb of Iraqi
president Saddam Hussein reportedly has been destroyed during the
ongoing assault to liberate the strategic city of Tikrit from the
Islamic State (IS).
Security officials said on Monday the
mausoleum located in Al Ouya, south of Tikrit, was destroyed during
fighting that erupted in the area between Iraqi government forces and IS
fighters.
Hussein's remains were no longer in the mausoleum,
having been removed by his family last June, a month before the jihadis
took control of the city.
Images broadcast of the tomb, which is
of medium size, show that only a few of its pillars remain standing,
indicating that it was destroyed with explosives or in bombardments.
Sunni
tribal sheikh Mohammed al Biyari told Efe on Monday that the sabotage
of the mausoleum was "a humiliation to the symbolism of Saddam and to
the Iraqis who love him, whether they are Shia or Sunnis."
Al
Biyari accused pro-government Shia volunteers of destroying the tomb,
adding that they also were murdering civilians and destroying homes in
the Sunni parts of the city that were being liberated from the jihadis.
Since
March 9, when the operation to drive the IS out of Tikrit was launched,
complaints have increased about acts of revenge against Sunnis at the
hands of Shia militias.