Security high as hundreds pay homage on Hussein’s anniversary

IRAQI security forces were on high alert yesterday around Baghdad and in the Sunni heartland north of the capital as the country marked the one-year anniversary of Saddam Hussein’s execution.

Iraq’s Brigadier General Qassim al-Moussawi said security forces were “ready and prepared for any emergencies that might happen”.

In Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, hundreds of people visited his burial site to pay homage and lay flowers. Some gave fiery speeches while others just stood quietly by the tomb, located in a large mausoleum in the Tigris River village of Ouja — the small hamlet just outside Tikrit where Saddam was born.