IRAQ: Hundreds of people of Baghdad and Samara filled the street in protest of the execution of Saddam Hussein

Hundreds of people of Baghdad and Samara filled the street on monday (January 1) in protest of the execution of the former dictator and to show support for the man who led the nation over three decades. Carrying pictures of Saddam and waving the Iraqi national flags, about four hundred people marched through the streets of Adhamiya district, chanting support for the man, they deemed as a "martyr", saying that Saddam's death would enhance the resistance. "The martyrdom of the father of the two martyrs will only boost the steadfastness of the resistance to achieve victory," read a large banner carried by the protesters. They protesters also vowed to continue resistance, saying that the death of Saddam with further enhance resistance movement. In Samarra, 60 miles (97 kilometres) north of Baghdad, on Sunday (December 31, 2006) more than 200 demonstrators took to the streets to protest against the execution of Saddam Hussein. In Al-Dor, 19 miles (30 kilometres) north of Samarra, the home town of Saddam Hussein's fugitive deputy Izzat Ibrahim, mourning tents were set up by heads of tribes condoling Saddam death. People gathered to mourn the death of Saddam and also to vow revenge for his execution. U.S. forces said they were fired on from an office building belonging to a leading Sunni Arab politician during a raid on a suspected al Qaeda safehouse in Baghdad on Monday in which six insurgents were killed. Saleh al-Mutlaq, an outspoken member of parliament whose Iraqi National Dialogue group is part of the U.S.-backed political process, said U.S. forces had targeted his office, killing two security guards and wounding two more. Speaking to Reuters by telephone from outside Iraq, Mutlaq also said a family of four, including two children, were killed in an adjacent building during the raid on Monday. He said the raid was a provocation and said the U.S.-backed government should be targeting Shi'ite militias blamed for operating death squads rather than his political party. Photographs of the scene showed the exterior wall surrounding the building reduced to a pile of rubble and the office building damaged with windows broken and damage from gunfire. There was a pool of blood outside. Mutlaq has warned brutal U.S. tactics are radicalising Sunni Arabs and swelling the ranks of al Qaeda and has urged Maliki's government to focus on cracking down on Shi'ite militias blamed by Washington and Sunni Arabs for operating death squads.

ITN Source | January 1, 2007

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