Fighting intensified to the north and south of Saddam Hussein's hometown yesterday as Iraqi security forces vowed to reach the centre of Tikrit within 48 hours. Associated Press video from the village of Ouja, just south of Tikrit, shows all that remains of Hussein's once-lavish tomb are the support columns that held up the roof.
Poster-sized pictures of the late Sunni dictator, which once covered the mausoleum, are now nowhere to be seen amid the mountains of concrete rubble. Instead, Shiite 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 Shiite militias on the battlefield.
The extremist Islamic State group has controlled Tikrit since June, when it waged its lightening offensive that saw Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, come under their control. The group claimed in August that the tomb had been completely destroyed, but local officials said it was just ransacked and burned, but suffered only minor damage.
Iraqi media reported last year that the body was removed by loyalists amid fears that it would be disturbed in the fighting.