Executed former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was buried in the early hours of today.
Few attended his burial inside a compound for religious ceremonies in the centre of Ouja, northern Iraq, the town where he was born. His burial came a day after he was hanged.
His death met with exuberant scenes in the country he once ruled with an iron fist, with people thronging the streets in the capital Baghdad, Basra and Najaf, dancing and sounding their car horns.
This image obtained by the Associated Press from an Arab language website, and seemingly shot on a camera phone, shows former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein just prior to his hanging in Baghdad
The former dictator met his fate calmly, although it emerged today that he had been taunted minutes before his death and had a frosty exchange with one of his guards.
A new video showed Saddam exchanging taunts with onlookers before the gallows floor dropped away. The video, apparently shot with a camera phone and posted on a website, had the sound of someone in the group praising the founder of the Shia Dawa Party, who was executed in 1980 along with his sister by Saddam.
Saddam appeared to smile at those taunting him. The video showed a close-up of Saddam's face as he swung from the rope.
Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie, who witnessed the hanging, was reported as saying one of the guards shouted at Saddam: "You have destroyed us. You have killed us. You have made us live in destitution."
"I have saved you from destitution and misery and destroyed your enemies, the Persian and Americans," Saddam replied.
"God damn you," the guard said, to which Saddam replied: "God damn you."
Saddam, who ruled Iraq from 1979 until he was ousted from power by the US-led coalition in the 2003 Gulf war, was sentenced to death last month for the killings of 148 Shias from the Iraqi village of Dujail in the 1980s. He lost his appeal last week.
He was buried near the graves of his sons Uday and Qusay, which are in Ouja's main cemetery. The sons and a grandson were killed in a gunbattle with the American forces in Mosul in July 2003.
Ouja is near Tikrit, Saddam's power base, which is 80 miles north of Baghdad. It was in an underground hide-out near Ouja that Saddam was captured in December 2003.
As well as celebrations in Iraq yesterday, thousands protested against the execution and there was the sight of fresh carnage on the streets of Baghdad, with at least 80 people killed in a string of bomb attacks.
Television images were broadcast around the world of the body of the fallen dictator lying wrapped in a shroud, his neck twisted to one side, after his dawn hanging.
Dramatic footage relayed from Iraq also showed him facing the final moments of his life — resigned to his fate as executioners in balaclavas tightened a noose around his neck.