BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was executed in Baghdad before sunrise Saturday morning, the Iraqi government announced.

Saddam went to the gallows at a secure location outside the fortified Green Zone, NBC News reported.

Barzani al-Tikriti, Saddam's half brother and former head of the security service, and Awad Hamed al Bandar, former chief justice of the revolutionary court, were scheduled to be executed with Saddam. But National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie told Iraqi television their hangings were postponed so the day would be remembered only for Saddam's end.

As dawn broke, Baghdad was quiet except for some gunfire from Shiite neighborhoods where Saddam's enemies celebrated the news.

The execution was witnessed by a few government officials.

The execution was carried out quickly once Saddam's appeal of his conviction and death sentence for the 1982 massacre of 148 Shiite men and boys in Dujail was rejected Thursday. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Friday there would be "no reviews or delays in the execution of the criminal Saddam."

A federal judge in Washington rejected a last-ditch attempt to block the execution through the U.S. courts.

Lead defense attorney Khalil al-Dulaimi said Friday the U.S. military had asked him to arrange for Saddam's personal belongings to be picked up. Saddam was allowed a visit with two of his half-brothers and gave them his will.

The Muslim holiday of Eid began at sunrise Saturday for Sunnis, so postponing the execution would have meant a delay of several days.

Hundreds missing in Indonesia shipwreck

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Bad weather stymied attempts to reach possible survivors from a ship that sank off Indonesia's Central Java province with 727 people aboard Saturday.

An Indonesian Armed Forces spokesman said rescuers hampered by high winds and waves had pulled only nine people from the water so far, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

The Indonesian Navy deployed four ships to help rescue the passengers and crew, officials said.

The KNP Senopati ship sank after leaving Semarang, the province capital, for Banjarmamsin in South Kalimantan province, the military spokesman said.

Officials said poor weather and huge waves were to blame. A member of the rescue operations said waves were nearly 20 feet high.

In addition, one official said the ship was reported to be leaking.

Mob kills suspected car bomb attacker

KUFA, Iraq, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A man blamed for a car bomb that killed 30 people in a fish market in southern Iraq was cornered and killed by a mob Saturday, CNN reported.

The unidentified man was killed as he walked away from the explosion that also wounded at least 45 in the Shiite town of Kufa, 100 miles south of Baghdad.

The blast, from a parked car or minibus, came hours after the execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. There was no immediate indication it was related to the hanging, the Interior Ministry said.

The attack also came on the eve of Eid al-Adha, the most important holiday of the Islamic year. Shoppers were buying supplies at the market for the holiday when the blast occurred.

Iraqi troops and police took over security of the Kufa area from U.S. troops last week.

ETA separatists blamed for Madrid blast

MADRID, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- ETA separatists claimed responsibility for a powerful blast at Spain's busiest airport Saturday that injured four people, Madrid media reported.

The attack followed a warning to police 45 minutes earlier, who were not able to evacuate Terminal 4 at Madrid's Barajas International Airport.

The man claimed to represent Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, or the ETA Basque nationalist paramilitary organization, the Adfero news service reported.

The explosion collapsed part of the airport terminal, CNN reported. Witnesses described a huge column of smoke billowing out from the blast scene.

Terminal 4, which serves Spain's Iberia Airlines and its partners, was closed following the explosion, but the airport's three other terminals were still operating, an airport official said.

ETA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union and United Nations.

ETA, which seeks to create an independent Basque state in northern Spain, is blamed for more than 800 killings and dozens of kidnappings.

On March 22, the organization declared a "permanent cease-fire."