Iraqis plunder government buildings in Baghdad

Looters in Baghdad are plundered anything they can carry from official buildings after Saddam Hussein's regime officials and police melted away overnight.

US marines were greeted with flowers and applause as they made their way through the east of the city and reporters in the centre spoke of an eerie calm.

Civilians were seen attacking posters of Saddam as they celebrated their new-found freedom.

First reports that Iraqi civilians were showing their defiance of the regime came from Saddam City, a poor Shiite district in the east of the capital.

Iraq’s Shiites have suffered persecution at the hands of Saddam’s regime.

Hundreds of Iraqis cheered, danced and threw flowers as US Marines advanced through the district.

But the open defiance by people who finally dared to believe that Saddam’s reign of terror may be over rapidly spread around the city.

TV pictures showed looters emerging from official buildings in the centre of Baghdad clutching furniture, fridges – anything they could carry.

Journalists also reported that their regime “minders” did not appear this morning.

And for once the Iraqi information minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf did not appear to insist the regime would triumph.

But Allied commanders were cautiously assessing the situation before pronouncing on today’s dramatic developments.

They also warned that there would be further fighting in the days ahead.