BAGHDAD — Hundreds of mourners visited the tomb of Saddam Hussein on Sunday to light candles and recite the Koran in memory of the ousted dictator who was hanged a year ago.
Security forces braced for possible attacks. Driving bans were imposed in the flash-point cities of Baiji and Dour to ward against car bombs, and extra checkpoints went up in and around Tikrit. But there were no reports of violence associated with the anniversary.
Many Hussein loyalists have joined forces with U.S. and Iraqi troops in the past year to fight the religious extremists they once tolerated.
In Al Auja, Hussein’s birthplace on the outskirts of Tikrit, schoolchildren lit candles in the hall where the dictator was laid to rest. Hundreds visited the tomb — decked in flowers and the Iraqi flag — but it was a far cry from the crowds of thousands that Hussein could command in his lifetime. The anniversary passed without comment on state-run television and in parliament.
Hussein was executed for the killings of 148 Shiite men and boys from the town of Dujayl after a 1982 assassination attempt, a fraction of the tens of thousands of deaths during his nearly four-decade rule.
He is buried near his sons, Odai and Qusai, and 14-year-old grandson, Mustafa, who were killed in a 2003 gunfight with U.S. forces in Mosul.
