Saddam 'to be buried near his hometown'

A delegation that included the governor of Salahuddin Province and the head of Saddam Hussein’s clan has retrieved his body from Baghdad and taken it for burial near the executed dictator’s hometown, Al-Arabiya satellite television reported tonight.

The broadcaster reported the burial would take place on Sunday.

The report could not immediately be verified.

Al-Arabiya said Salahuddin provincial governor Hamad Hamoud Shagtti and Sheik Ali al-Nidawi, leader of the Albu-Nassir clan, had negotiated with US and Iraqi officials to be able to bury the executed leader’s body near where he was born, the village of Ouja which is near Tikrit, 130km (80 miles) north of Baghdad.

The report said the clan had gathered at the grand mosque in Ouja to await the return of Saddam’s body.

He was captured in an underground hide-out near the village on December 13, 2003, eight months after he fled Baghdad ahead of advancing American troops.