Saddam Hussein's tomb destroyed in fighting

TIKRIT, Iraq, March 16 (UPI) -- The Tikrit, Iraq, mausoleum housing the body of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was demolished in fighting between Islamic State and Iraqi forces.

The elaborate and lavish structure was reduced to rubble as each side fought for control of the city, Hussein's birthplace. IS forces controlled the city until government troops and Iranian-backed Shia militias began an offensive to retake it, and it is unclear which side brought down the building in the Tikrit suburb of Awja.

Some in the local Sunni population claimed the body was taken last year to an undisclosed location, in anticipation of an IS attack.

Saddam was buried in the tomb of the last day of 2006, the day after he was hanged at an Iraqi army base near Baghdad. It was claimed his body was stabbed six times after the execution. His death and interment followed his 2003 capture by U.S. forces at a farmhouse near Tikrit. He was charged by the Iraqi Special Tribunal with crimes against residents of the town of Dujail in 1982, involving the deaths of 148 and various acts of torture and illegal arrest.

He was found guilty in Nov. 2006, and buried in Al-Awja, two miles from his sons, who were killed in 2003 during a gun battle with U.S. forces.