Fourteen killed as Iraq Sunnis observe Saddam's birthday

BAGHDAD, Saturday (AFP) - Insurgents killed at least 14 people in Baghdad today while further north a low-turnout marked a sombre ceremony on the first birthday of Saddam Hussein since his execution.

Four humanitarian workers from the Iraqi Red Crescent were killed and three others wounded when gunmen ambushed their minibus in Baghdad's mixed Sunni and Shiite district of Zafaraniyah, a security official said.

The official was not able to provide any further details on what was latest in a series of attacks on the organisation, one of the few aid agencies still able to work, with difficulty, amid the violence.

In December, a group of gunmen abducted dozens of Red Crescent employees from the group's office in Baghdad. Many of the hostages were later released, but some are still missing.

In a separate attack in the same neighbourhood today a group of garbage collectors stumbled upon a roadside bomb, which killed one and wounded eight others, the security official said.

In nearby Saydiyah, another mixed district, unidentified gunmen shot dead five civilians and wounded one, he added. In Al-Risala, a Shiite district of southern Baghdad, a series of mortar rounds slammed into a residential area killing three people and wounding 10 others, including women and children, the official said.

In the northern Shiite neighborhood of Khadimiyah a civilian was killed and three others injured when a homemade bomb blew up in a public market, a police source said.

Insurgents have carried out a steady stream of attacks in Baghdad, including high-profile car bombs, despite a massive security crackdown by Iraqi and US troops in the capital since February 14.

While US commanders say the number of sectarian death squad murders has declined by about a third since the plan was launched, a series of large bomb attacks have kept the overall level of casualties roughly the same.

Small crowds of Iraqi Sunnis, meanwhile, gathered in parts of northern Iraq today to mark Saddam's first birthday since his execution, amid calls to keep the ceremonies low-key.

Around 200 local residents, mostly children between the ages of seven and 12, gathered at the former dictator's tomb in Awja, his home village. He was laid to rest there after being hanged on December 30 for crimes against humanity.

Saddam is entombed inside a hall that used to be a gathering place for condolence meetings during his former regime. The farming village lies just outside the city of Tikrit, 180 kilometres (110 miles) north of Baghdad.

“The children of Salaheddin want to celebrate the birthday of the martyr Saddam Hussein near his tomb. They regard him as their father,” said Fatin Abdul Qadir, the head of a children's organisation in the province. The children placed a wreath on the tomb and adorned it with unlit candles.

“Iraq is caught in the darkness of occupation,” she said. Most Iraqis rejoiced when Saddam was overthrown in a US-led invasion, but many members of his tribe and some former members of his ruling Baath Party continue to honour his name.

The bloody chaos that has descended on Iraq in the wake of the invasion and the controversial way in which Saddam was executed by the new Shiite-led regime have also hardened support for him in some Sunni communities.