Saddam hanged at dawn

Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president, has been hanged, according to puppet Iraqi and US officials. Reports on Al Hurra, a US-backed puppet television station, said that Saddam was executed shortly before 6am (03:00 GMT) on Saturday.



Puppet "deputy foreign minister", Labeed Abbawi, said: "He has been executed. It has been officially announced that he has been executed."



George Bush said the execution was an "important milestone on the country's path to democracy".



"Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself," the US president said in a statement.



Saddam hanged at dawn when Muslim worlds celebrate Eid ad-Adha.



The former Iraqi president, who was ousted in April 2003 by a US-led invasion, had been convicted last month of "crimes against humanity" over the killings of 148 Shia villagers from Dujail after a failed assassination attempt in 1982.



US-led occupation forces killed 650 000 Iraqis.



Saddam's conviction on November 5 was hailed by George Bush, the US president, as a "triumph for the democracy" he promised to foster in Iraq after the invasion almost four years ago.



With U.S. public support for the war falling as the number of American dead approaches 3,000, Washington is likely to welcome the death of Saddam, despite misgivings among many allies about capital punishment.



Issam Jhazzawi, one of Saddam's defence lawyers, said on Friday that Saddam's daughters in Jordan were bracing for his imminent death.



"The family are praying for him every minute and are calling on God that He let his soul rest in peace among the martyrs," he said.



A source close to the family said that Saddam's daughter, Raghd, "is asking that his body be buried in Yemen temporarily until Iraq is liberated and it can be reburied in Iraq".