Saddam Hussein was buried in his home village of Awja in the early hours of today, 24 hours after his execution.

At least 2,000 Iraqis - including dozens of relatives and other mourners, some of them crying and moaning - flocked to the area near Tikrit, 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad. A few knelt before his flag-draped grave. A large framed photograph of the former Iraqi leader was propped up on a chair nearby.

"Saddam Hussein has been buried today at 4am (0100 GMT) in a place that was constructed during his regime in the centre of Awja," Musa Faraj, a member of Saddam's family from the area, said.

He added that the building where Saddam was buried was a hall usually used for condolence meetings.

Hamed al-Shakti, the governor of Salaheddin province, and Ali al-Nida, chief of Saddam's tribe of Albu Nasir, along with many other clansmen attended the burial before the sun rose on a bitterly cold New Year's Eve, said Faraj.

Shakti and Nida went to the capital Saturday to claim Saddam's body after he was hanged and his corpse was wrapped in a white shroud.

An official close to the Iraqi Prime Minister said that Saddam's body was flown early Sunday to Tikrit by the US military.

"At 1:30 am Sunday, a US helicopter transported Saddam's body to Tikrit," he said, confirming that the former Iraqi leader was buried in Awja.

Faraj said security forces had sealed off the town, a stronghold of Saddam's supporters, since Saturday so that "nobody could participate in the burial" at Awja, just four kilometres (two miles) to the south.

On Saturday, police had blocked the entrances to Tikrit. Despite the security precaution, gunmen took to the streets, carrying pictures of Saddam, shooting into the air and calling for vengeance.

Elsewhere his death was greeted with joyous scenes, with people thronging the streets of the country's major cities.

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 was apparently shot with a camera phone and posted on a website. The footage showed Saddam appearing to smile at those taunting him. It also showed a close-up of Saddam's face as he swung from the rope.

Saddam, who ruled Iraq from 1979 to 2003, was sentenced to death last month and lost his appeal last week.

He was buried near the graves of his sons Uday and Qusai, which are in Awja's main cemetery. The sons and a grandson were killed in a gunbattle with American forces in Mosul in July 2003. While government officials had indicated he might lie in a secret, unmarked grave for fear the site could become a shrine and focal point for rebels, it appears they have taken the view that the cemetery can be kept under surveillance.

Awja is small settlement of unusually grand homes, signs of the prosperity it enjoyed during the rule of its most famous son, born there in poverty in 1937.

It was in an underground hide-out near the village 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.

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