Saddam buried overnight in Iraq

Tikrit (Iraq): Executed dictator of Iraq Saddam Hussein was buried before dawn on Sunday in his native village of Awja, near Tikrit in northern Iraq, the head of his tribe said.

Ali al-Nida, head of the Albu Nasir tribe, said the burial in a family plot took place in the early morning, less than 24 hours after the former president was hanged for crimes against humanity.

His sons Uday and Qusay, killed by US troops in 2003, are also buried in Awja, close to Tikrit, where tribal elders received the body on Saturday from Baghdad.

Al Jazeera television also quoted a family source saying Saddam was buried in Awja, despite a statement from the family late on Saturday saying the body might be taken from Tikrit to the western city of Ramadi for burial.

Iraqi officials in Ramadi said they were unaware of any plan to bury Saddam there.

Saddam, 69, was hanged at dawn on Saturday in a base in Baghdad once used by his own feared intelligence services.

He was shown on state television walking calmly to the scaffold. Grainy video later showed his body in a white shroud, the neck twisted and blood on a cheek.

Three decades after Saddam established his personal rule by force, it closed a chapter in Iraq's history marked by war with Iran and a 1990 invasion of Kuwait that turned him from ally to enemy of the United States and impoverished his oil-rich nation.

However, US President George W Bush said in a statement, that sectarian violence pushing Iraq towards civil war has not ended.

Daughter's appeal falls on deaf ears

Saddam Hussein's daughter Raghd had asked that his body be buried in Yemen, a source close to the family said on Saturday.

Raghd, who is in exile in Jordan, "is asking that his body be buried in Yemen temporarily until Iraq is liberated. His body can be reburied in Iraq," a source close to the family told CNN.com by telephone.

Defence lawyer Issam Jhazzawi had said earlier that Saddam's daughters were bracing for his imminent death. "The family are praying for him every minute and are calling on God that he let his soul rest in peace among the martyrs," Jhazzawi said.

Another defense lawyer, Badie Aref, told CNN that Hussein met with two of his half-brothers in his cell on Thursday and passed on messages and instructions to his family.

"President Saddam was just bracing for the worst, so he wanted to see his brothers and pass on some messages and instructions to his family," Aref said.

The half-brothers who visited Saddam were Sabawi and Wathban Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti.

Aref said the US soldiers guarding Saddam on Tuesday took away a radio he kept in his cell so he could not hear news reports about his death sentence, which was confirmed that day.

"They did not want him to hear the news from the appeal’s court upholding the sentence," he said. "They gave him back the radio on Wednesday."

Aref said Saddam found out about the appeals court verdict "a few hours after it was announced."