Saddam's Top Aides Hanged

Saddam Hussein's half-brother and the former head of Iraq's revolutionary court were hanged before dawn today in Baghdad, two weeks after the execution of the former dictator.

Iraqi government officials said the executions had been orderly. However, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother and a feared intelligence chief, had his head severed during the hanging.

His decapitation, which an Iraqi government spokesman called "a rare incident", provoked outrage within Iraq's Sunni Arab community. Khalaf al-Olayan, a leader of the main Sunni bloc in parliament, demanded to see any video taken during the execution.

"It is impossible for a person to be decapitated during a hanging," he told al-Jazeera television. "This shows that they have mutilated the body, and this is a violation of the law."

In contrast, the majority Shia community, persecuted under Saddam's regime, expressed joy at the deaths of Barzan and Awad Hamed al-Bandar.

The two were found guilty alongside Saddam last year of involvement in the killing of 148 Shia men and boys after a 1982 assassination attempt against the former dictator in the town of Dujail, north of Baghdad.

Saddam was hanged on December 30, at the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday, after his appeal failed.

Among Iraq's Sunni Arabs, the timing caused anger, a feeling heightened when mobile phone video footage emerged showing Saddam enduring ethnic taunts from his Shia executioners as he went to the gallows.

The Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, said no such scenes had marred today's executions.

"Those present signed documents pledging not to violate the rules or otherwise face legal penalties. All the people present abided by the government's rule and there were no violations," he said.

"No one shouted slogans or said anything that would taint the execution. None of those charged were insulted."

Another government official said the bodies were at a morgue awaiting collection by the families of the dead men.

The executions reportedly took place in the same military intelligence headquarters building in Baghdad where the dictator was hanged.

The manner of Saddam's execution was condemned around the world. Last week the prime minister, Tony Blair, broke his silence on the subject to describe the scenes as "completely wrong".

The contrasting community reactions to the latest hangings could further exacerbate sectarian violence in Iraq, which the US president, George Bush, hopes to quell by sending an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq soon.

At least 78 people were reported killed or found dead in Iraq yesterday. Among these were 41 bullet-riddled bodies discovered in Baghdad, the likely victims of sectarian killings. The US military also said two US soldiers had been killed in roadside bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital.

Today, three policemen were killed and two were hurt when a roadside bomb hit their car in Baghdad.